Harry's Our WHAT?
by Kelsid
Summary: Due to a mishap, James and Lily are taken to Harry's time to meet Ron and Hermione. Kept hidden away from Harry by his friends, James and Lily are unaware of their relation to Harry. Will they ever discover he is their son? Set in the sixth year.
1. A Meeting

"Psst, Lily. Over here!"

James, his black, untidy hair standing up straighter than usual, which was quite a feat, gestured violently, his palm face up and pointer finger beckoning for her to come over.

Lily sighed, irritated. That boy would be the death of her, the way he always would look at her and manage to make her mad, but yet make her feel so… exhilarated. Yes, James Potter was an arrogant git, but there was something about him…Flipping her red hair behind her back, she walked over to him as she hissed, "What? I was trying to get the spell done!" She shot a look over at her partner, Remus Lupin, who had raised an eyebrow in question. Professor McGonagall was still glancing over paperwork, granting Lily at least an extra minute with James.

James smirked at Sirius Black, who was sitting right next to him, talking in low tones to a particularly pretty Ravenclaw. "You owe me ten sickles," he whispered to Sirius who turned toward him quickly.

"You got her to come over?" he asked in disbelief, looking at Lily doubtfully. "God, you actually did." His gray eyes widened in respect at James, who appeared very smug. Suddenly, Sirius's mouth dropped as he remembered something…

"I believe we had a bet, Mr. Padfoot?" James said, staring straight at the nervous Sirius.

"You were joking about that- right?" Sirius begged, his face twisted into exaggerated plea.

James grinned. "Sorry, but I'm serious, Padfoot." Across the room, Remus had buried his face in his hands. Prongs had just done the unthinkable- he actually paved way for a Sirius joke. The horrified werewolf bit the inside of his cheek as he switched his gaze to the triumphant Sirius.

"No," pressed Sirius slowly, relishing every moment of the event, "as you can clearly see, I am Sirius." Once James realized what he had done, he groaned loudly though Sirius laughed happily. It had been a while since he was able to pull off a Sirius joke, as the Marauders had been very careful about saying the word around him. At last he had caught them using it!

Lily's eyes sparkled like firecrackers, the green hue crackling dangerously. James Potter had called her over for a bet. A bet! Pushing her face close to his, she snapped, "I don't know who you think you are, Potter, but making me come over here for a gamble is nothing a real person would do. Is that all I'm worth to you? A toy, to be played with? Well, I'm more human than you'll ever be." With that, she stalked off toward her seat again and sat down heavily beside Remus.

"What did they do?" he sighed, quill paused an inch above his parchment. She was trembling, as Remus could see, though she had hastily laid her hands down in her lap.

"He bet I would come over," she whispered fiercely. "And I played right into their hands. I went." Her green eyes met Remus's dark brown ones that were filled with apology- maybe guilt?

"He loves you, Lily," explained Remus reasonably as he began to write, "But sometimes, I'm afraid, he doesn't quite know how to show it."

She snorted, pulling out her quill violently. "Doesn't know how to show it? You've got that right."

Remus closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to rid the headache coming over him. "He really does. Did you know that he never looks at any other girl besides you?"

She frowned slightly. "I don't believe it."

Remus pushed on gently, "I think you hurt him. Just look at his face! Lily, give him another chance. He'll pull together if all the Marauders join in." James was glancing over, worried looks. He really did care.

Lily gave a small smile as she said, "How did you end up with those apes over there? You're much better than them- civilized, I should say."

Now it was Remus's turn to give the smile, but wryly as he replied, "They're really good people. In the matter of fact, I would call them much more civilized than I." _Or at least on a full moon_, he thought.

"Modest," she commented, beginning to pen down the notes on the board. "And Remus? Thanks for being here."

"Always will be," Remus replied as he felt himself relax. He'd patched things up between Prongs and Lily, but he felt that his work was flimsy hemming and only had a few moments before it tore right in two again. These fights came quickly and were short, but did the damage of a much longer clash. Well, at least something good came out of it- Sirius had to dance to James's choice of music at dinner this evening. Hopefully, it would teach him some discipline, but most likely he'd just gamble recklessly again.

The scratching of the quill next to Remus stopped abruptly as a shadow passed over his paper. _Not now, James,_ he begged himself, _please, not when I just fixed everything…_

The apologetic face of James Potter loomed close to the partners', hands placed on each one of their papers, forcing them to stop writing. "Look… I'm sorry, Lil," James said, running his hand through his hair. Remus shook his head curtly and James hurriedly stuffed his hand in his pockets. "I… don't know what came over me… I shouldn't have done that… I was an idiot. I was wrong to bet that you'd come over… I didn't think you would. Honestly. But I do have something to show you."

Was James waiting for an answer? Lily thought for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. Normally, she would give a flat out no, but Remus told her that James really loved her… She knew she was going to regret it, but she said it anyways. "The Gryffindor common room, 7 o'clock tonight- got that?"

James's mouth dropped in surprise, but quickly composed himself. She actually agreed… she actually agreed… "You won't be sorry, Evans," he promised with a cocky grin, and swaggered back to his seat.

Lily found herself smiling as she turned back toward her paper. Looking at Lily with concern, Remus tore a small bit of his parchment off and scribbled,

_Mr. Moony would like to ask Mr. Prongs what he is going to do tonight, since he previously had nothing planned._

Passing the note easily up to Prongs, the addressed flipped over the paper and penned the reply. _Mr. Prongs assures Mr. Moony that he DOES have something planned, though he doesn't know quite what it is yet._

When Remus received the answer, he sighed but dutifully wrote back, _Mr. Moony offers his assistance on Mr. Prongs's quest to impress the fair Miss Evans. _Holding out the paper to Sirius for him to pass on to James, Sirius instead read the exchange between Remus and James before scrawling his own reply.

_Mr. Padfoot would like to know why he was not included in this deep tête-à-tête. _

_Mr. Prongs is astonished that Mr. Padfoot actually knows that word. _

_Mr. Padfoot begs to know which word Mr. Prongs means. _

_Mr. Moony believes that Mr. Prongs is referring to tête-à-tête, or otherwise known as "talk" or "chat."_

_Mr. Prongs asks that we forget about this whole tête-à- whatever and please get back to the subject of the divine Miss Evans and what Mr. Prongs plans to do this night. _

_Mr. Padfoot remembers a charm that enhances your appeal- Mr. Prongs will most certainly need that. _

_Mr. Moony pleads that this conversation end, due to that Mr. Padfoot's precious Minnie is glancing our way._

_Mr. Padfoot corrects Mr. Moony, doesn't he mean tête-à-tête instead of conversation?_

_Mr. Prongs differs, the word is French and none of us are skilled in that area of expertise._

_Mr. Padfoot has an idea- he suggests that Mr. Prongs learn French for the beautiful Miss Evans, also known as the "language of love." __J'aime la vache et Monsiuer Dumbledore est chaude, mademoiselle…_

_Mr. Moony wonders when Mr. Padfoot has acquired such vast knowledge, especially with such a handicap. He would also like to add that the sentence Mr. Padfoot had penned in French translates to, "I like cows and Dumbledore is hot, ma'am."_

Sirius wisely decided to ignore Remus's previous statement. So what if he had only heard a bit of French here and there? He wasn't exactly _fluent,_ but that could be expected. Anyone could make a mistake.

_Mr. Padfoot politely asks which handicap Mr. Moony might be thinking about- the one that plagues him with incredible handsomeness, or the one that gives him a sweet exterior that no one can overlook? _

_Mr. Prongs thinks Mr. Moony was referring to the one that gives Mr. Padfoot an inflated head and enormous ego. _

_Mr. Padfoot was not aware of such a trait. _

_Mr. Moony assures him that everyone else is. _

Sirius laughed out loud at Remus's comment as he started to scribble his reply, but Professor McGonagall's stiff voice stopped him cold.

"And what, may I ask, are you doing Mr. Black?" she asked, mouth pursed as the whole class looked at him expectantly. The room had gone silent as Sirius hit a revelation that was sure to get him out of this fix.

"What does it look like?" he replied, letting his eyelids droop half closed as he leaned forward. "Writing a love letter to you, Minnie. I cannot believe you didn't respond to my last one… you near broke my heart."

The class broke into laughter and McGonagall flushed pink. "Oh, you mean that letter," she said coolly. Once again, the class erupted into titters. "I vaguely remember that… I have an extra copy. Perhaps I should put it on the board, Mr. Black?"

James started to snicker, knowing very well that Sirius had written McGonagall a rather fluffy love letter last year on a dare. McGonagall had looked at him oddly the first couple days after sending it, and the teachers always chuckled when Sirius walked by the Transfiguration teacher. It had become a running joke between the staff and Sirius, much to the unhappiness of the Marauders- they didn't need any more constant gags. The serious-Sirius jokes were enough to last them until eternity.

"I would be delighted, Minnie," Sirius grinned. "But you might want to erase the 17th line- it gets rather… descriptive."

"I can't believe you got us all detention, Padfoot," muttered James as he slapped his scrub brush to the Transfiguration room's floor. "And we didn't even do anything!"

Remus, kneeling next to him, stopped for a moment, thinking to retort but decided against it and went back to work. "What were you going to say, Moony?" asked Sirius.

"If I said it, my head would be torn off by Prongs in an instant so I remain silent," responded Remus, concentrating on the floor. He never realized how hard it was to wash the floors the Muggle way, especially at seven o' clock.

For a few moments, they worked as hard as they could, concentrating on the stone blocks. Finally, Sirius turned his head around. "Where's James?" he asked.

Remus and Peter exchanged glances as if to confirm Sirius was a looney, but as they looked around, they also noticed that James was gone. "Bloody sneak," Sirius grumbled, giving the floor an extra good rubbing with his brush.

James turned to Lily, giving her a smile. "Hey, sorry I was late…"

"It's fine," she said. Was she actually looking forward to this moment? Hope surged in James's stomach. He was going to tell her that he loved her, right now.

This was the time.

"Lily, I… I lo… I lo… I lost Sirius's birthday gift from his aunt," James blurted, then felt like hitting himself. Why didn't he just tell her? "I'm going to go put it back in his bag, right now."

"All right…" Lily said uncertainly as James raced up to his dormitory room. Quickly taking the book and stuffing it into Sirius's bag gave him time to think the situation over. He was going to calm down, then tell her, and show her how much he loved her. He'd show her all the drawings he'd done of her, all the poems he'd written about her bravery, her kindness and her beauty. The plan was as simple as that. He gave a grin at Sirius's book. Surely it deserved some recognition for getting him out of a tight spot.

"Sorry about that," James muttered as he slid beside Lily.

The girl nodded a bit doubtfully.

"I… I can…" James could say this, he knew he could. "I can… speak Italian."

Lily stared at him blankly.

"No! No, I mean I can… I love… you know what? I know this really neat spell. I'll show it to you, it goes like…"

James took his wand out of his pocket, and did what he remembered of a spell from one of Sirius's old spellbooks."Then I say 'Post… hac ab' and-"

But before James could say anything else, a blue light had engulfed them. The floor rumbled ominously as Lily shouted, "Potter, what did you do?"

He would have said, "Trying to impress you" if they had not been swallowed up into the bleak darkness.

"Ron, I'm going to run ahead. I need to get something from Dean before I go to Potions." Harry pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, attempted to smooth his wild hair and waited for the reply from Ron.

Ron stopped walking. "Fine by me. Just don't be late; Professor Snape will give us detention if we are!"

"He does even if we aren't."

"You know my point. Hermione and I will be waiting."

Waving goodbye to Harry, Ron sprinted ahead to catch up with Hermione who never stopped her tread.

"Why do you even talk to each other about that? You knew Harry had to get something from Dean, he's been complaining about how he NEEDS that stupid thing he borrowed... I still really don't understand you too," Hermione grumbled, the bags under her eye a darkish purple.

"Really Hermione, you must get some more sleep. Have you seen those purple-ish bags? My god, woman, do you know when to stop?"

"I had essays, Ron, and it takes more than five minutes to get an O!"

Ron stopped walking again. "I do mine in that amount of time."

"Yes, but do you get O's?"

He shrugged this off and kept walking. "Well… sometimes I do if I work ten minutes."

"If I help you," Hermione grunted and shuffled along the hall that would take them on the path to Potions.

There was an abnormal silence as they followed each other.

"I heard Snape's giving a lesson about flobberworms and their uses. Or something," muttered Ron, trying to get some conversation. Hermione sighed. She really did appreciate Ron's effort, but she didn't want to talk. Not right now. Staying up all night for her Charms essay was not her idea of fun. So instead she asked him, "How was Quidditch practice? Did you block any goals?"

"Yeah! Tons! I'm really getting better, Hermione!"

Ron had started spewing off about the inquired topic, and how much better 6th year was than 5th, when a feminine scream and a thud cut him off short.

"What was that?" he asked nervously, and started glancing around.

Hermione, who was in the mood to fight an ogre, boldly stared and stomped around until she finally stopped in dead silence.

"Oh no! It's a spider! Kill it, Hermione! Fast!" Ron cringed, holding out his hands in front of him.

"No, Ron. Come over here." Her previous killer temper had diminished to a soft glow.

Ron was hesitant in his trek but when he rounded the bend he froze.

"It can't be," he murmured.

"I think it is!" Hermione whispered, a sob catching in her throat as they gazed upon the unconscious faces of James Potter and Lily Evans, lying, tangled on the wooden hall.


	2. Why So Thick, Ronald?

Hermione found herself gazing into the face of James, mirroring Harry's to almost perfection. She didn't mean to, but her hand trembled towards him, her hand gaining a mind of its own.

He has soft hair, Hermione realized, fingering a jet black lock. Peering at his straight nose, his lidded eyes and heavy brow, she felt as if it was Harry himself.

Hermione had to tear herself away when Ron flew by, touching her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, Hermione, we'll get Harry to Madame Pomfrey's in no time. What was he doing with that girl, and did he put powder on that scar? I can't see it at all!" Ron bent down to brush away some of his imagined 'powder' when she slapped his hand back.

"No!" she wanted to yell. "Do you want everyone to get into this mess? Do you want reporters swarming around?"

But instead Hermione closed her eyes and pressed her hand against her temples. Surely a headache was coming on. What was she to do, with a bunch of unconscious, time traveling, youthful couple?

"Ron," she said tiredly, "just… go get someone. Get Dumbledore. We need to get them out of here before anyone sees."

Instead Ron donned a face of pure confusion, one that was worn almost every minute of the day. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione cast her eyes upward, toward the skyscraping ceilings of Hogwarts. Freshly cleaned floors glistened beneath her, and stern faced men stared coldly from their hanging spots. She was about to retort tartly, when the even sound of footsteps came within ear.

She stopped cold, and whispered, "Ron?"

He, still oblivious, was starting back onto Defense. "What is it this time? Ickle reporters chasing you down?" He meant to sound like Peeves, but it wasn't working.

She sighed huffily and scanned around her. Walls, walls, walls. No doors in sight. Then she could have quickly ducked there with Ron, as well as hide James and Lily from roving eyes and unlimited imaginations.

When Ron's eyes widened larger, his gangly form standing taller than ever, Hermione knew he heard the steps.  
"Ron, this is urgent!" she pleaded and placed her palm in his. "Remember any trap doors or… magical disguised hangings?"

He wanted to laugh at this, but his panic kept everything inside. "I recall Fred and George telling me about something…" he said, his face screwed up from concentration.

"Think, think!" Hermione nearly screamed. The enemy approached - certainly an enemy. She recognized those silken tones, deep and musical, the whoosh of thin robes and the padding footsteps. Snape.

Ron grinned. "I remember!" He jumped up and down, engrossed in his own discovery. "Over there… tap it a couple times; it was George's secret way to…"

Hermione ignored this, but pulled out her wand and tapped the place.

"Nothing happened!" she screeched.

Ron yelled, "No not there! The tapestry—it's a magically disguised hanging!"

She silently rolled her eyes as she flicked the wand against the faded hanging as it transformed into a jelly-like substance, revealing a darkly lit room inside. Flinging herself in, she motioned to Ron to enter.

But he hung back as he lifted the feet of James, leaving Lily on the floor her arms outspread. Grunting in exhaustion, heaving James onto the platform, he lumbered in, face bright red.

"I couldn't get the girl," he gasped. "Two… was… too… much…"

Hermione put on a face of courage and simply touched the wall again. This time it transformed into solid stone, leaving only a small candle to light the room.

The secret room was small, only seven feet wide and five feet long. Hermione found herself wishing that she could make it a little roomier when James started stirring.

"Oh, gosh," she thought as his eyes opened a bit.

The eerie candlelight only dimly showed his features, but it was enough for her to see his eyes fluttering open.

"Harry, mate, don't worry. We're just in this secret room… wicked, I know…."

She bit back a comment on how it was NOT Harry because she didn't want James to know what would happen to him. She never knew what Ron would say, so better to not inform him.

It was hard, knowing Snape was right next to her. Hermione held her breath and spoke in whispers, but soon she had more things to think about too, like what Snape was saying outside. Snitches and snatches were coming to her, but she had to hear more. Positioning herself so her ear would lean flat against the wall, she could hear the flowing voice of Professor Severus Snape quite finely.

"I was telling you, Minerva, Weasley and that Granger never showed up."

"Severus, I believe you, but why would they do such a thing? They wouldn't have a reason, except if Potter were getting them into some sort of adventure. Granger is a perfectionist, why would she skip?"

"Something is brewing here, I know it," and Hermione could almost see him tapping his large nose.

Next she heard was a gasp, from Snape as it sounded deeper. McGonagall made a choking sound. Hermione guessed they had found Lily.

"Is this some sort of… joke?" Snape managed to say, though his superior voice diminished to a weak lumber.

"Severus, it couldn't be…" McGonagall said, sounding breathless.

"Get Dumbledore, Minerva, leave me here. I will try to decide what charm was placed on her… if it is really Lily…"

Hermione found her ear almost raw from the pressing. Rubbing it softly, Hermione gasped when James, still a bit bent from unconsciousness, rushed over.

"First, I'm going to overlook where I am, who you are and why I'm stuck in a small dark room. But what did he say about Lily?" James demanded. "I'm the reason she's here!"

Hermione gulped. "James, I think we're going to have to have a talk."

"I'm going to have to get her. I'm responsible, I caused that accident because I want to impress her," he admitted, ignoring her comment.  
"I… can't…let you go," she murmured, forgetting she ever said the thing about a 'talk'. What would happen if Snape caught them?

"Who are you? Why do you have the right to control me?"

"I have a wand," Hermione reminded him, "and I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley. We'll say why you don't know us later, once we're out of here."

Trying to break the tension, Ron jumped over and leaned against the wall. He was saying things such as, "Snape is walking… Wicked! He's talking at the same time!"

Besides that it was all silence. Hermione stared at the small candle watching the flame dance. A sudden, low tone broke the apprehension.

"Why not?" James asked.

"What?" said Hermione, utterly confused.

"Why don't you let me go?"

"It's dangerous, and you might be seen."

"Well this is Hogwarts, isn't it? Why would I be afraid to be seen?"

"James, I just don't want Sna… I mean anyone to see you."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later. It's sort of complicated."

The room was left in silence, except for the occasional exclamations of Ron.

The silence grew twisted and angry, almost writhing on the floor. Simply to fill up space, Hermione started to talk about the weather.

"Shut up," James prompted and Hermione snapped her mouth shut.

"No, every one of you shut up!" Ron cried excitedly, ear poised and hand held out. "I think Snape's gone."

A soft scrabble was made for the outer wall, and Hermione nodded her head eagerly. "Yes, yes, I'm positive he's left!"

James jumped out, and at this point, there were no more words but only a scrape of stone against hand. Lily was being lifted up and carried away, to the secret tapestry. Ron heard James's voice as he said loudly to them, "Tell me about everything… or mainly why I don't know you?"

Hermione crawled out and muttered, "I'll explain at Defense. You're going to have to pretend to be someone you're not, okay?"

She honestly did not like having James come along for class, but there was no other option. It was this or skip it, and although she already missed about half of it, she still wouldn't have been gone the whole lesson.

James muttered as Ron jumbled out, "I always did like playing charades… but I always liked it better when I knew who I was playing as."

Ron whispered to Hermione, as they crept down the hall, "I think Harry had a concussion. He doesn't know where he is, or who we are!"

Hermione ignored this as she led them to the dark passageway that would take them to James's doom.


	3. Stop Your Sobbing

"Where could it be?" Harry wondered aloud as he rummaged through his trunk. Maybe leaving his wand out in the Gryffindor common room hadn't been a good idea. Remembering the heated conversation Harry had shared with Dean brought chills to his flesh as he scoured on, even checking in Hedwig's cage.

"Dean, have you seen my wand?"

"Well… about that wand, Harry…"

"What about it?"

"I had it… and can't exactly remember where I placed it last…"

"You lost my wand?!?!"

"I'm really sorry, but I thought it was mine, see? I had a holly wand too, so…"

"Then what did you do with it?!"

"Well, I realized it wasn't mine, I kind of… just left it… somewhere…"

"You irresponsible GIT! What on earth do you think you're doing!?! You knew it was someone else's and-"

"I'll help you look," offered Dean.

"NO!" screamed Harry.

"Then I think I'd better go."

That was the conversation that made Harry cringe. He could have been nicer. He could have sympathized with Dean. But no, he had to get angry and shout and yell. Looking out the window, Harry wondered how life , how he would have been different if he had been raised by his parents. _It was their fault!_ Harry thought, trying to get mad at his parents, but his feelings remained neutral. _They were the ones that left me here with the Dursley's, and Voldemort chasing me every second. _

All he experienced though was tears, bitter with sorrow. Harry wanted them, so much. He would have done anything to see them. _I am stuck here, and I'll see them again- _

You still have Dumbledore… you still have… Harry laughed suddenly. No matter what he was, Dumbledore wasn't his parents. Dumledore wasn't Sirius. In a part of his mind, he still thought were alive, somehow. He'd see them soon. Yet he always realized eventually that they were dead. They wouldn't come back alive. They were lying in the ground. The hope that had come to him made his sob, his whole body racking with heartrending cries. _They are dead, _he made himself think. _They are never coming back. It was time to face reality and get on with it. _Instead of those facts comforting him, however, he kept on crying. _I wish there weren't such a thing as hope, _he longed before he fell asleep right on Dean's bed.

"Oh, Draco, you are so bad!" snickered Pansy as he told the story of gaining revenge on Potter that had something to do with Harry's wand.

The words could hardly be heard over the noise that accumulated in the Potions room. When Snape had left to find Potter, Granger and Weasley, and yet never returned, the room went crazy. Neville was stuck in a desk thanks to a purposeful push from Malfoy. Lavender Brown and her friends were gossiping about the whereabouts on Harry Potter.

"I heard You- Know -Who came and killed him while he slept," she murmured and the crowd of girls erupted in gasps.

Neville tried to say something against this false information, but Lavender pushed him deeper in the slit in the desk as the chaos reigned.

James stuck his head in and saw the dark room filled with laughs and talk, then closed the door again and pressed his body against it.

"I don't know what happened to Defense, but I think I'm going to like it." His eyes gleamed mischievously as Hermione gave him a quizzical look. She decided now was the time to explain.

"James. You are in the future- 1996. I mean…" Why hadn't she given him the exact date? Oh, everything coming out of her mouth turned out terrible!

"That might seem a shock to you. I don't know how you got here, but I think you know."

James looked highly amused and nothing else while Ron's face was pale, as if he had received the shock of his life. "That's… not Harry?" he managed to say, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course it isn't! James, you're going to have to pose as this boy, Harry. We're his friends, you know. But we can't have you waltz in there as a new student, can we? Everyone would know you're a fake, and I don't know what else to do with you. I can't exactly bring you to our dorm room, nor Ron's. Where would we hide you? Ron, you go ahead and try to get Harry out of there while we bring in James." She said this all in one breath and secretly congratulated herself on the plan. It was the best she could think of on the spur of the moment.

"Wait a second." The interjection by James was filled of mirth and good humor. "I guess I can believe you on the future. Weirder things have happened, and I'm sure I can get back. But it's your plan that's kind of…. well… full of loopholes. Number one, what are we going to do with Lily?"

At this Hermione bit her lip, until she could think of a good enough retort to fling back at James. Finally one hit her, though not the most imaginative. "Can you think up of anything?" James almost laughed out loud at this comeback but managed to come out with only a snort. "I get to question _you_ first. Mainly, where are Sirius, Peter, Lily, Remus, the whole gang, and where am I? Nowadays, I mean."

"I can't say. It would change your whole world and burden you with what you are to become…"

"Aw, don't spoil the fun."

At that moment, Lily started to wake up. James stopped the pressing about what would happen to all of them and watched as Lily awoke.

"Where am I?" she wondered, her whole senses sluggish and slow. Her emerald green eyes gazed up at James's face, his tousled hair and roguish expression.

At once panic flooded her body as she tried to stand. When James wore that face, something was up, something usually not good.

"Hey, Lily. We're in the future, or so those kids tell us." He pointed a thumb at the still pale Ron and irritated Hermione. "I believe them. Why else would we be sucked in a big black hole?"

It took a second to dawn on Lily, but when it did, she nearly screamed. "Is this some sick joke, Potter? Are you kidding me?"

James shrugged. "Well, I don't think so, unless the bushy haired girl was lying to me over there."

"What is this to you anyway? Is it a game? Something fun? How are we going to live, hidden away all of the time? No, don't interrupt me."

James closed his open mouth, but managed to mutter, "We can get back."

"Who knows if we can?" she demanded. "They certainly don't. They're just as old as us! No, James, we're stuck here. I can't talk anymore. Just… oh my…" and she slide down, her back against the wall to the floor.

"So what if we're stuck here? We could have some fun. We'd know what would happen to everyone we know! Do you think Sirius might marry that girl who he's after? Oh, what's her name…?"

Lily snapped up, her eyes blazing. "This is some kind of fun little game for you. I am disgusted. We're stuck here and all you can do is… is…" She felt an overwhelming urge to cry but swallowed it back down and faced James head on.

Ron attempted to cut in, "Sirius, he…"

"Well apparently I can't think about him at the moment. I have to think about how we're doomed to live here forever. Ever heard of looking on the bright side, Lily?"

"Sometimes looking on the dark side is more realistic. Face it, James." Lily was hurting inside. She would never see her mom, her dad, not even Petunia again; no matter how much she hated her magic.

"Do you think I just automatically think bright and cheery? I make a choice, Lily. I choose to make people happier. I can't dwell on the bad… no. Just forget it. I don't care. Maybe if we are so different, I should stop liking you," snapped James.

Lily felt no joy in learning this information as she would have a few hours earlier. Now all she could do was retort, "Maybe you should."

Silence on both ends. She couldn't believe she had said that, truly she couldn't. She hadn't meant it either. It was in the heat of passion, and she tried to explain. "James, I…"

He stopped listening as he pushed open the Potions door and without turning around he murmured, "It doesn't matter."

For some reason, those words struck a deep chord in Lily's soul. "I've got to go," she said, and started to leave when a firm grip held her fast.

"Sorry, but what will people do when they see you around the hallways?" Ron blushed apologetically.

"You can go with her, Ron. Go out to the courtyards. No one should be there. If Snape is back in there, I'll say you had to go to Madame Pomfrey's. Anyway, I can't think of where else to put Lily. Go!"

Looking back anxiously, Ron left with Lily who had silently shedding a tear and more were falling fast. Ron glanced away. _Crazy women! _He thought in obvious dismay. _Why do they always have to cry? I feel like I have a mini Cho around._ But he dutifully followed her out, although mouthing, "Help me" to Hermione all the way.

She sighed and turned back to James. "I guess we can go in now… James?"

But he was nowhere in sight. Grasping around, attempting to get her mind set straight, she immediately thought he followed Lily out. The logical side of her cut this off the list.

Could he have gone to Defense? thought Hermione. I better take a look inside. Peering into the darkness and foulness of the Defense Against the Dark Arts room she heard raucous laughter and out of curiosity stepped inside without a second thought.

There her search was completed by a cocky James laughing with Lavender and her crowd of girls. Malfoy was quite red around the face when Pansy slipped by him to join the Harry imposter.

Hermione slid about the room, listening to him all the way.

"Oh Harry! You certainly are more… social…!" giggled Pansy as she wrapped her hand around his arm. James seemed to take no note of this as he went on, telling his story of the Marauders, or his "summer-time gang" as he called them.

"Then, you know erm… Steve? He said to that girl…"

Hermione had heard enough. Even though he was changing the names and all, she still couldn't stand the clues he was giving to all the silly girls… and Pansy! She shuddered as she pushed forward.

"Harry," she muttered carefully, gritting her teeth to show her displeasure. "Let's go to our seats now."

Walking by her side after flashing the girls a dazzling smile, he murmured, "Are you and Harry a couple?"

"What?" She couldn't believe her ears.

"Just asking." He shrugged. "You said you were friends and all…"

"No, it's not like that at all," she said curtly. "Now sit here and _don't talk_."

Snape briskly whipped about the castle, trying to get to class before it ended so he could at least issue them homework. He was thinking over and over, "Why did I leave Lily alone?" but there was nothing he could do. What was done was done.

Finally he had reached the hallway which would lead to his classroom. He had 10 minutes to spare before class ended, which was plenty of time to give a lengthy essay. Just before he had begun to open the door, a flurried voice called from above.

"Oh, Severus! Severus!" cried the voice.

He glanced up as Professor Sybil Trelawney flew across the floor to greet him, her open arms greeting him in a wide embrace. His first instinct was to cast _Avada Kedavra, _but simply went for the "Push Away" technique. "Oh Severus. How could I live without you?" A callused hand went up to stroke his face.

He flinched. Dear God, what was going on? He pushed her away again, only this time, more roughly. She got the hint this time around and turned to him in sorrow, eyes round and watery.

"I thought… I thought…"

"I have no idea what you thought, but I must get to class," he said efficiently and brushed past her sleekly, his black robes gliding across the stone. That should have been the end of the madness.

"I love you, Severus!" She blurted out. He couldn't conceal his horror and disgust. This had to be a joke. It had to be.

"Trelawney…" he ignored the hurt look on her face as he addressed her coldly. "If this is some kind of prank, I would appreciate if you drop the act right now and forget this happened."

"But… I do… love you." Her arms fell to her side.

What the hell was this? "I'm going… to class now," he faltered, and stepped inside. He had to ask someone later. But right now, it was just too much.

James was just about to hex the door to fly off its hinges when Snape entered, looking grim and coolly displeased.

"Granger. I have been looking all over for you. And who do we have here?" He leaned in, giving a horrible grin to James. Hermione couldn't breathe. What if he found out… did he know?


	4. Strange Encounters

"Potter. Sit down."

She breathed a sigh of relief and bent into whisper to James, "Potter is Harry's last name. No relation to you, of course." He nodded comprehendingly and suddenly his eyebrows furrowed. Trying to place the teacher's face, his lit up.

"Is that… Snivellus?" he crowed, though soft enough that Snape would not hear.

"Yes, now listen to the lesson. And don't call him Snivellus!"

Lily sank down onto the bench and started wailing. "I was so bad. I was… terrible!"

"Come on, you aren't that bad," snorted Ron. "James is worse than you! I mean, look what he does to Snape."

"But I insulted him. He was just trying to cheer me up…"

Ron stared up at the blue sky, imagining himself up there all alone. Sighing he turned back to her and said, "If I tell you where Sirius and Lupin are, will you stop crying? You could patch things up with James then."

"I can't. I don't think I could live with the information. Every time I look at them, I'll see their death or their home nowadays. Who their wife is, what children they have."

"Sorry for offering," he replied, a little hurt. Lily seemed to take no notice, however, as she looked to the horizon.

There was a silence, and then Ron ventured to say something. "You know… we'll get you home. I mean, if you can get here, you can get back, right?"

Lily gave him a watery smile and a hug. Ron's ears had turned a bright red by the time she let go.

Meanwhile, James had set up part one of his plan. The other two were in the works, and soon the fireworks would begin. Rubbing his hands together, he started scribbling on some parchment that Neville had left on his desk while Snape was still attempting to get the poor boy out of the cauldron. This was going to be good.

Lily and Ron were still seated outside in the court yards, staring at the darkening sky, when the figure emerged from the trees.

"Who is that?" Ron asked, starting to get nervous.

"How am I supposed to know?" Lily replied, only a little bit less nervous than Ron.

But one thing was certain, that they both didn't like the looks of the shape, not at all. With the dry grass under their feet, the receding light and haunting trees ahead, nothing would seem good.

Ron was already off the bench and was beckoning Lily off when the figure came into full view. Lily looked confused as a delighted and relieved grin spread across Ron's face.

"Professor!" he cried, running towards him.

"Good afternoon, Ron," the professor said pleasantly, giving a small smile, yet his eyes were focused on Lily. Feeling rather awkward, she turned away.

"Are you here to start teaching again, sir?" asked Ron, grin still plastered onto his freckled face.

Lupin gave a short, polite laugh. "I'll think on that Ron. But for now, I'm here to help you. Dumbledore sent me here, with this story about Lily sitting outside of Hogwarts, a young student again. Apparently, Severus found her on the floor, and Dumbledore wanted me to check out the situation. Although I do trust Dumbledore, this idea seemed a bit…"

"Batty?" suggested Ron. Lupin nodded.

"Then again, has Dumbledore ever been wrong? And sure enough… you're here." Lupin's eyes softened, and for a moment, Lily thought she saw his eyes glisten. "This is Remus, Lily."

It took a moment for it to sink in. Finally, she stuttered, "R-Remus?"

"In flesh. Lily, you have no idea …" At once she jumped up and flung her arms around him, her eyes turning moist too.

"It's so good to see someone I know, Remus… so good… It was horrible, James made this charm, and it somehow landed us in the future… we had a fight… I was scared, Remus…"

"Understandable." He patted her awkwardly. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Lily that his body had gone stiff when she mentioned James's name. "So James is here also?" he said tentatively.

"Yes, sitting in Defense class."

"And who's the new teacher this year?" Remus asked lightly, but Lily sensed that he had much more turmoil going on inside him.

"Snape. You hadn't heard?" said Ron, looking slightly puzzled. Lupin's eyes went wide.

"Snape? Are you sure, Ron?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean, I've had the class…" But he soon realized the question was rhetorical as Lupin appeared to be deep in thought. Finally, he raised his head.

"We have to get James out of that class before he does something reckless," sighed Lupin, looking quite weary.

Lily seemed to agree. "If he hasn't already blown up the classroom," she muttered under her breath as they walked towards the castle. Lupin smiled.


	5. The Professor Is Back

Lily and Ron were still seated outside in the court yards, staring at the darkening sky, when the figure emerged from the trees.

"Who is that?" Ron asked, starting to get nervous.

"How am I supposed to know?" Lily replied, only a little bit less nervous than Ron.

But one thing was certain, that they both didn't like the looks of the shape, not at all. With the dry grass under their feet, the receding light and haunting trees ahead, nothing would seem good.

Ron was already off the bench and was beckoning Lily off when the figure came into full view. Lily looked confused as a delighted and relieved grin spread across Ron's face.

"Professor!" he cried, running towards him.

"Good afternoon, Ron," the professor said pleasantly, giving a small smile, yet his eyes were focused on Lily. Feeling rather awkward, she turned away.

"Are you here to start teaching again, sir?" asked Ron, grin still plastered onto his freckled face.

Lupin gave a short, polite laugh. "I'll think on that Ron. But for now, I'm here to help you. Dumbledore sent me here, with this story about Lily sitting outside of Hogwarts, a young student again. Apparently, Severus found her on the floor, and Dumbledore wanted me to check out the situation. Although I do trust Dumbledore, this idea seemed a bit…"

"Batty?" suggested Ron. Lupin nodded.

"Then again, has Dumbledore ever been wrong? And sure enough… you're here." Lupin's eyes softened, and for a moment, Lily thought she saw his eyes glisten. "This is Remus, Lily."

It took a moment for it to sink in. Finally, she stuttered, "R-Remus?"

"In flesh. Lily, you have no idea …" At once she jumped up and flung her arms around him, her eyes turning moist too.

"It's so good to see someone I know, Remus… so good… It was horrible, James made this charm, and it somehow landed us in the future… we had a fight… I was scared, Remus…"

"Understandable." He patted her awkwardly. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Lily that his body had gone stiff when she mentioned James's name. "So James is here also?" he said tentatively.

"Yes, sitting in Defense class."

"And who's the new teacher this year?" Remus asked lightly, but Lily sensed that he had much more turmoil going on inside him.

"Snape. You hadn't heard?" said Ron, looking slightly puzzled. Lupin's eyes went wide.

"Snape? Are you sure, Ron?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean, I've had the class…" But he soon realized the question was rhetorical as Lupin appeared to be deep in thought. Finally, he raised his head.

"We have to get James out of that class before he does something reckless," sighed Lupin, looking quite weary.

Lily seemed to agree. "If he hasn't already blown up the classroom," she muttered under her breath as they walked towards the castle. Lupin smiled.

Meanwhile, in Defense, James wickedly went over his plan. Luckily, he'd had quite a few Dungbombs stashed in his pocket when he came to this time, and he knew just who to use them on.

"And… Potter. How would using a nonverbal spell save your sorry hide when a verbal spell wouldn't?"

"If I didn't know, would using a nonverbal spell save my sorry hide?"

Snape sneered. "No. I think five points from Gryffindor will suffice for such imprudence. Would any other Gryffindor like to answer?"

Hermione raised her hand, shooting an icy glare at James, who was silently shaking with concealed laughter. She hissed, "What were you thinking? Harry would never do that!"

"Well you didn't actually give me the nature of this Potter fellow," he retorted, just as low voiced.

"No one would like to answer?" Snape's eyes actually gave chills to Hermione's skin, so cold and hard were they. "Well. I suppose that proves that Gryffindors are truly as stupid as they seem."

"No, I think you mean Defense teachers. This girl over here has her hand raised," smirked James. Snivellus certainly had stooped to low levels.

"That was uncalled for, and ten points from Gryffindor." This was getting too easy for Snape. He had to be put in his place- right?

James started to take the Dungbombs out of his pocket. He'd never actually tried more than one at a time, but now was a good time to test out a few more. He felt all eyes on his, including the gloating ones of Snape. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door swing open. His moment was gone. Lowering the bomb, his gaze set on the man who had just entered the room. He was on the taller side, thin, and had hair that was turning quite grey. Somehow he looked familiar. But who could he be? Different images of the people he'd known at school flashed through his mind's eye, but nothing came up.

Everyone in the room started clapping when Remus came in. "Professor!" shouted Neville. "Please, help, I'm stuck in this desk, and-"

"Oh, you're back! You should have seen the last Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she was horrible!" cried Lavender.

"This one isn't so hot either," muttered Dean, and the class murmured in agreement.

"What are you doing back, you man wolf?" sneered Malfoy, his good mood spoiled by Pansy sidling over to Potter.

"No, no, please, listen." Lupin cut off their compliments and complaints by shaking his head side to side. "I'm here to take over for the day, and this day only. Severus, uh…" He started debating the idea that Ron came up with. Ron was loyal, but was he really that smart? Oh well. It was the only plan they had. "I believe a certain someone wanted to see you?" He raised his eyebrows, waiting breathlessly for the result. At first Snape did nothing. Then it twisted into a sneer, which let Lupin start breathing again.

"That Trelawny again? I'll have to tell her for the last time to stop fawning over me…"

The children tittered as the Professor turned around quickly, his sneer grown bigger. "If you snicker-" (which brought more laughter), "once more, I'm deducting 1,000 points from your house!"

This shut them up as he whirled around and marched up the steps. "So, good to see you again, class. What was Snape teaching today?" Lupin asked pleasantly, glancing around the room. It was a normal action, though today it was scanning for someone in particular.

Neville raised his hand. "I'm not quite sure sir, but I would really appreciate it if…" Lupin jumped at the sight of Neville stuffed into a desk.

"Oh! I'm dreadfully sorry… We'll get you out of there… _Waddiwasi_!" Neville flew out of the desk, landing rather heavily onto the floor as the rest of the class started to laugh.

Hermione quickly helped Neville get up, wondering why Lupin had showed up as Neville thanked the teacher appreciatively.

"Not a problem Neville. Now, what are you learning?"

The class exchanged hesitant looks.

Lupin laughed, eyes twinkling. "Well, it appears you haven't started class yet, or no one was listening. I assume the latter?"

Everyone nodded.

Lupin laughed again. "Well, if I remember correctly, the beginning of the curriculum is spells. So, if you will all practice the 'Expecto Patronum' spell…"

He quickly went over the wand motions and noticed that the majority of the class already knew the basics. Silver vapor was already expelling from their wands as he looked on, impressed. "Well, I suppose you learned this last year, with Mr. Pott- Umbridge… Professor Umbridge… Keep on practicing; you're doing a fine job." Oops. A few Gryffindor had noticed his slipup and were grinning in return. The Slytherins were giving him menacing glares as they only succeeded in an occasional puff of white.

Now, the moment he'd been avoiding. It was time to talk with James. He saw him screwing up his face in concentration, biting his lip as a size-able shaped vapor erupted from his wand tip. James had always been head of his class. Luckily no one else in the class noticed that the once Patronus-proficient Harry could now not produce a clear shape.

He took a deep breath. This was too strange. If it had been an older James, the once he'd known before that horrible day, he would have felt so much more comfortable. This… this was just weird. But he had to talk to him. He needed to know…

Lupin shook his head. He wouldn't know at this young of an age. But still… would it not relieve him of his questions, of his insecurity?

"Harry," he said, coming over to James and whispering into his ear. "I need a word."

James looked startled. Lupin could almost hear the thoughts going through his head- _What do I do? I'm not Harry, I have no idea…_

But he followed him out anyway. This was certainly going to be an interesting reunion.


	6. Reunion

The click from the door told Lupin that they were alone in the corridor, shut off from the rest of the students. He turned around slowly, hardly daring to believe that James stood right in front of him. Suddenly, he felt himself let go again. He wanted to break down and sob, then collapse, and tell James how much he'd missed him, how much… how much he'd loved him.

That would freak James out right on the spot. He'd run away and Ron and Hermione would run in to find Lupin in a right sorry state. He couldn't lose control. He shouldn't.

_Just bring him upstairs and get the situation handled. There's no need to tell him who you are. _Yet inside, Lupin knew James would figure out. And the strange part was he wanted him to.

"Well, James," greeted Lupin, "how is your journey to the future?"

"Quite well, sir." James snapped to attention mockingly. "Defense class is much more fun with Snivellus teaching. And how do you know I'm James, not this Harry fellow?" He expressed no shock, but did show interest.

"Your kind Headmaster told me. I'm here to help keep your secret, in simplest terms." He longed to reach out and clap James on the back, to cry and to believe, believe James was still alive. But he couldn't.

"Do I know you? You look awfully familiar," squinted James as he gazed quizzically into Lupin's face.

"You might," he said cryptically. "Shall we go on, then, to see your friend?"

James still looked highly suspicious. "Yeah. Sure. Where are they, by the way?"

Lupin looked around, appearing highly concerned. "Umm… actually… I'm not quite sure…" One moment out of his sight and they were gone. And he thought he could trust Ron.

-

"Sybill!" stormed Snape as he rushed into her room. She slowly turned around, hoping it would be Severus. Ah! Her eyes lit up with glee. Her love had returned. She knew he would have, she knew! After all, isn't that what being a Seer is all about?

"Why, Severus," she whispered, "you have come back! I knew you would!"

"You are not spreading rumors to the children about…" At this he spun about, scanning for nearby intruders, "us."

"Of course not, Severus," assured Sybill.

But for one moment, Snape felt something clunk in his heart. Why wasn't she spreading rumors? We have something special… thought Snape then shook his head fiercely. What was he thinking? Was he having some sort of mental breakdown?

"Stay here," Sybill whispered. "Please." She ran her hand up and down his sleeve. It repulsed him…and yet…

"Maybe just for a cup of tea," he muttered as she led him to her favorite chair.

-

"Ron," Lily murmured as they strolled the hallways, "Thanks for taking me down here. You're so good at that, you know?"

Ron began to blush again. "At… what?"

"Just making people feel comfortable. You just know the exact right things to do, like taking me on this walk, for instance."

The blush, having already spread over his entire face, went down his neck. "Thanks."

There was a silence, in which Lily suddenly said, "Do you think I'll ever get back? To my own time, I mean."

"Do you want to?" said Ron, startled.

"Of course I do. I miss my parents and Petunia, I guess. I miss all my friends and enemies, even. I even miss James… the James that I knew back then, of course," she added hastily. Ron nodded, thought not fully comprehending. "He's still James, but at the same time, he's just not. Everything's changed between us since that argument, that stupid argument!" A bit of passion crept into her voice, but faded away like fog in the sunshine.

"I'm sorry Lily." What had he meant by that? Ron hadn't really even felt remotely sorry, not really understanding what was so upsetting about the row, but the words popped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Thank you." She hugged him tightly, and whispered, "You've been so good to me!"

He nearly staggered to the floor, being that this was the second time today he'd been hugged by the opposite sex, and another part of him wanted to hug her back. Ron fought the emotion for a moment, but eventually let it take over him. A little bit of pressure, not too much, Ron reminded himself, as she buried her head in his shoulder.

Meanwhile, up above the two students, Harry was looking out of his dorm window. Hate poured over him, mostly directed at Voldemort. He took away my parents, he thought bitterly as he flung open the shade. But he left me to live. Wouldn't it all be easier if he had taken me too? At least he had his friends. They were the only people he could count on anymore.

Harry gazed out the window, taking in the blue sky and blinding sun. The whole world was beautiful, and he was part of it. At least he was part of something. Sighing, he glanced below, where he saw two figures. One looked amazingly like Ron, and the other's face was concealed. But he could make out one thing, and that was they were hugging.

His face twisted into a mask of hurt, and he struck the window pane. Ron and Hermione counted on him? It was laughable. Look at him now, cozying up to a girl that Harry didn't even know. Why hadn't he told him? He didn't trust him? They… weren't good enough friends?

The last suggestion hurt, and at that second, Harry had made up his mind. He was going to confront Ron, here and there about this girl, and he couldn't wait to see who she was. Moodily stomping off, Harry thought sourly, _Ron should have told me about her! Did he think I couldn't handle it? Who is she, anyway?_ Yet, Ron knew that Harry wouldn't be able to handle it if he knew who that woman was.

His mother.


	7. Moony

"We need to get you back," said Lupin to James, who was lounging against the wall.

"Why? Does anyone miss me over there, except Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail?" retorted James, obviously engrossed in his own world. _There was something that happened that made James so upset_, thought Lupin. _Usually he was so cheerful._

"I'm sure they do," replied Lupin, keeping his voice clipped and even. "For now, you are going to have to stay in the boys' dormitory with Ron. Lily will stay in the girls' dorm, with Hermione. In the meantime, Professor Dumbledore and I will do some research to find a potion or charm that will send you back…" At this moment he trailed off. _Dammit._ The full moon was tonight. How could he have forgotten?

"What?" asked James, commenting on Lupin's sudden failure to speak.

"I just… realized something. Nothing important," he added in response to James's raised eyebrow. "But really, we must find the others." He began to set off. _He knows, he knows, he knows,_ Lupin thought in anxiety as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What do you have to do tonight?" asked James, skipping to get back into step with Lupin. His face seemed to betray anything but a light heart, however, as his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"It's minor. An appointment I'd forgotten," Lupin said with care. "Now, if you please, we really must find Lily and Ron…"

James turned a knowing eye on Lupin. "You know, there's only one guy I know that would wrestle his nose when he was nervous."

A wry grin escaped Lupin's otherwise in-control exterior. "And who would that be?"

"You, Moony."

There was a silence.

James's face crumpled. "Have you forgotten?" he begged desperately, looking like a broken man. "How could you? What's gone on in this world?"

Lupin stayed silent, but continued to walk, keeping his gaze forward.

"I thought we were friends! I thought that was the only thing I could count on in this place!"

Lupin sighed and stopped. "James," he said seriously, turning to face the boy, "I haven't forgotten. We were- we are friends. Now please. Let's go."

But James stayed put. "Tell me what's gone on! You wouldn't have done this… You've changed."

"We all have, James," said Lupin sharply. "This time is more complicated than you could imagine. Right now, we have to find the others."

Lupin could almost see James's will break in two. "I… I… I just… wanted to know… What happened to you?"

He knew how to get his attention. Lupin couldn't help but turn around and face the confused time-traveller. "James," he said quietly, "age happened. It's hard to believe, I know. But never think that we drifted apart, all right? We are still friends. The Marauders are a hard tie to break." He allowed himself a smile as James grinned hesitantly back.

"Now you're just buttering me up, Moony. You've learned a lot from Wormtail."

James detected a flicker of something in Lupin's eyes when he said Wormtail… anger? "Are you and Wormtail not on good terms?" he asked uncertainly.

"You could say that," said Lupin as he stopped walking again and closed his eyes.

"Tonight's a full moon, isn't it?" queried James although he knew the answer already.

"Yes."

"And still no cure for… erm… your furry little problem?"

Lupin grinned in spite of himself. "Not quite yet."

Okay. James had tested the waters, and it seemed Lupin had warmed up to him. "Did you know that Snape is the Defense teacher? Have you thrown any pranks on him yet? That one that you were thinking of before I left... oh, that one was good..."

"James, I don't really play pranks anymore," laughed Lupin. "And Severus isn't really all that bad- yes, truly!" he added as James snorted.

"Isn't all that bad? I mean, he would add things to your potions, he would cast spells on us…"

"James, did you know that because of how we treated him, he's absolutely prejudiced about Gryffindors? It really was quite horrible what we did to him."

"What?"

"All the pranks, the soap bubbles, the tripping in the hallway…" Lupin began to count off the pranks on his fingers when James interrupted.

"No, I mean, what does prejudiced mean?"

Lupin chuckled, but stopped when James started to look at him in an odd way. "How old did you say you were?" asked James.

"I didn't, but thirty-seven. Why would you like to know?"

"Well, I mean, you look fine and everything… but… you already have grey hair!"

"Ah. One of my sorer points, I must add," mourned Lupin jokingly. "But you do know that some women find the grey rather distinguished." He gave a sly side-look at James, whose mouth had dropped open.

"Does… does that include Lily?"

"I suppose I could tell you if you'd let us continue on our quest."

James gave a reluctant nod, but was grinning rather devillishly.

"Wait." Lupin paused, looking to where they had wandered. "I apologize, but I must stop by Albus's office for a moment. Will you excuse me?"

"Certainly," declared James courteously, giving a bow.

Lupin had already told the gargoyle the password, but stopped before entering. "And stay put, James," he warned.

Of course, James had no intention of obeying, but agreed with a rather devilish grin on his face. As soon as Lupin had disappeared, James proceeded downstairs, starting to cook up the plan in his head…

Before Lupin entered Dumbledore's office, he paused a moment. _How can I stay here after what happened three years ago? _he wondered rather guiltily. _Do you really want to help Lily and James, or are you here just to relive the days when things were good?_

Knocking softly and then entering, Remus saw Albus Dumbledore at his desk, staring straight up at him. "Hello, Remus. I see you have met James and Lily," he said as he ushered Lupin to a chair.

"How did you know James was here? You only told me about Lily."

"I had a strong hunch that both were here. I also happened to see James and you standing outside of my office." Dumbledore smiled.

"Well, that saves some explanation time. Albus, I have some pressing matters to discuss. I believe I can help James and Lily out of this mess, but I'm going to need some time here." He muttered this all in one breath, and hoped for the best.

"As a matter of fact…" Dumbledore casually added, his fingers tracing the curly ironworks of Fawkes's cage. "Right now, the Dark Lord has been asking Severus to return to his side. Although Severus is protesting against it- his main excuse being the class- his presence there will be invaluable to the Order. And just my luck, an especially experienced teacher comes looking for housing in the castle." Dumbledore looked extremely mischievous as his eyes twinkled behind his spectacles.

Lupin was dumbfounded. He had to speak at the pace of a snail for anything to come out clearly. "But… parents will be sending in owls, and I simply couldn't…"

"Not as long as you teach for only a few weeks. You won't even transform in that time. I will handle the letters, Remus. I'm asking you to do this- Remember, you were _not _asked to leave when you last resigned."

The request was too tempting. Part of Lupin wanted to accept, accept and teach the job that had brought him so much joy years ago. Yet another part of him knew it was the wrong thing to do. _I won't even be transforming,_ he thought to himself. _Maybe… Maybe…_

"I will, Albus, and thank you for the offer."

Dumbledore seemed quite pleased. "No, thank you, Remus. And the Shrieking Shack is still open, in case you find yourself concerned by nightfall."

Suddenly Lupin felt embarrassed by his lack of concern for his transformation place. "Oh. Yes. Thank you." He felt shockingly like a first year schoolboy as he sidled out the door.

In the gardens, Ron eventually pulled away from Lily. He was breath-taken, and couldn't stop looking at her. "You really helped me get over this, Ron. Thanks." She gave a watery, yet still proficient, grin and then snapped her head as she heard footsteps quite near to where she and Ron were positioned.

"Hide!" whispered Ron as Lily scrambled under a bush. Only flecks of sunlight filtered through the leaves, and she urgently pushed them back. Tilting her ear slightly closer towards the edge of the shrub resulted in perfect hearing.

"What were you doing with that girl, Ron?" demanded a voice. It sounded rather angry and low. She moved back a couple more leaves and tried to focus in on their conversation.

"Nothing, she just needed a… loving shoulder," replied Ron, not able to believe he actually said 'loving shoulder.'

"You owe me a lot of answers! First off, how long have you been with her?"

"Only since today, mate," Ron declared, a little bit shakily.

"Sure," snorted Harry as he leaned in closer. "Next question- who is she?"

This took Ron by surprise, and stuttered his unrehearsed reply, "She's… from... she's… my second cousin once removed, and adopted! Yes, that's it!" It seemed as if a million light bulbs had lit up in Ron's head.

"Ron, I can't trust you anymore," spat Harry. "You lie to me, and then you won't tell me who this girl is? I can't believe you! Why wouldn't you tell me about her? No one cares about me! Not even my parents! They didn't, because they died! They left me here, in a world where Voldemort is stalking me and everyone lies to me!"

At this point, he stormed to the other side of the castle.

"Harry! Wait!" called Ron, but it was too late. Lily reappeared through the bushes and sighed, looking at the lone silhouette of a confused boy. "That's horrible. How could anyone's parents leave their baby to die? And that poor boy has Voldemort after him?" She shook her head and looked off into the distance, when Ron gulped. Should he tell her that she was the one who left their baby to "die?"

He started with a shuddering breath. "Lily…"


	8. The Marauders

_20 Years Ago..._

"Face it, Sirius, he's gone." Remus Lupin leaned against the blackboard of the Charms room, looking quite defeated.

"Just tell me the details, all right?" huffed Sirius Black as he tapped his foot angrily against the stone of the floor. The room was pitch black, only the light of the half moon shining through the window.

Remus sighed and said, "I just told you what Frank told me! James said this strange spell, and then Lily and he disappeared. That's it. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten us in trouble, and then we would have been able to see it ourselves-"

"Hey, look, I'm not a creep like you!" Sirius shot back. "Always cozying up to Lily when you know perfectly well James is trying to get her!"

"I am not!" cried Remus defensively. "Whenever I'm talking to her it's always to patch up things between James and her…"

"Yeah, right!" snorted Sirius as Remus shot him a death glare.

Peter Pettigrew squirmed as he checked the door for intruders. "Guys, should we really be doing this? What is Professor Flitwick comes in here?"

"Wormtail, no one will come in," Remus said, almost bored. "Really, Padfoot, we should start looking up that spell in Professor Flitwick's book of charms. Frank said he remembered some of the words."

"Well, where are we going to find that?" demanded Sirius, growing steadily more incontrollable by the second.

"Right here, on his desk," replied Remus as he picked up the rather heavy and dusty book from its eternal resting spot on the professor's writing table.

"What are you waiting for? Oh, let me do it!" cried Sirius as he barged in front of Remus who was gently flipping the pages, murmuring the letter "p" as he slowly pored over the list. With alarming speed, Sirius flicked the pages over, skimming over the words in a second.

"You missed it!" moaned Remus. "Now you're in the Q's!"

"Moony, of course I didn't. P is after Q!"

"Did you ever pay attention in kindergarten?" he said, now slightly amused.

"No, I knew all of that already," Sirius sniffed, exaggerating every movement. "My mum always gave me the most talented of witches for teachers, but none were good enough for me! They told me never get detention. They said always be kind. And the one I paid most attention to of all was of course, never run around with werewolves as friends." At this, he gave a lopsided smile and Remus lifted the corner of his mouth into a half grin.

"Very funny. But if we're going to find this charm, you'd better go back to the P's."

Sirius grumbled good naturedly as he quickly turned the pages back to the P section.

-

Back in the present day, Hermione tapped her wand against her desk. All the students were again in an uproar, many whispering, "I can't believe he's back!"

"Do you think because there's a cure for Lycanthropy?"

"Finally! A good teacher! I mean, really, one was loony, one was a fake, one was evil- no, I mean really evil as in You-Know-Who, one was a plant by the Ministry, and then the good old greasy git. Nice!"

"Wait, were you talking about Quirrell or Umbridge when you said 'You-Know-Who evil'?"

When class was over, the student rushed out while Hermione gathered her things quietly. Her mind was racing. _Why was Professor Lupin here? Had someone told him about James and Lily?_ Suddenly Ron rushed into the room, panting. Everyone else seemed too preoccupied with the concept that Lupin had been teaching that they ignored Ron's enterance.

"Hermione! She… Harry… I know I wasn't supposed to…"

"Ron!" she commanded, making his jaw drop. "Stop! I can barely understand a word you're saying. Now please, calm down and explain yourself," she said with authority, hoping to sound like a teacher. Surprisingly, it worked.

Ron jabbed out the story, his eyes wild. "And then Harry came around the bushes..." he gabbled.

"What? Harry! Did he find out? Does Lily know? Oh God, Ron, we've made a mess of the past! Harry might not even be born, Voldemort…"

"She doesn't know. Not yet," breathed Ron. "But she heard his story, how his parents died and everything. She thinks it's terrible."

Hermione was overcome with an overwhelming urge to laugh. "This is too weird, Ron, this is stupid and weird and crazy and… why did they have to mess with time?"

"Lily should have been here a while ago… I dunno where she went… maybe to the bathroom? Yeah, I think she mentioned that. Oh, and by the way, Lupin's here to help us. I think, anyways. He went off to see James."

"Well, I see we have an excellent tab on everyone," commented Hermione sarcastically. She liked to have everything within her reach, within her knowledge, but not today apparently.

Suddenly Lily appeared at the doorway, motioning the two outside, her hair windswept and eyes wide. "Why is James running around the castle as a stag, following Remus around IN PLAIN SIGHT?"

"Oh no," moaned Hermione as she started to jog out of the room. "Could he ever stay put one minute?"

"Not the James I know," Lily added, as she followed Hermione.

James peered around the wall, watching Lupin intently. He was going to show him to be young again, the exhausted old Moony. Prancing eagerly, he waited until Lupin rounded the corner before galloping down the hall.

Professor McGonagall was scribbling on a piece of parchment when she saw a flicker of running legs. It actually looked suspiciously like a deer… no. It couldn't be. Why would a deer be running around Hogwarts? Shrugging her shoulders, she went back to writing as Lily, Hermione and Ron flew past her door, running valiantly to catch James.

-

_Back in the past..._

"It's not in here," announced Sirius Black, eyebrows furrowed. "The spell isn't here." His finger was tracing the spidery crawl of Professor Flitwick's book, paused in-between posthab tog and pota.

Remus sighed and slowly got up to see where Sirius was looking. "You probably just skipped it over or something…" Skimming the page, a puzzled look came over Remus's face. "It's… not there."

"What did I just tell you? Did you not believe me?" Sirius appeared offended, but then turned solemn again. "I don't know how the hell we're ever going to find James now."

"It must have been a spell not in use anymore," mused Remus, still rereading the page in hopes of just missing the enchantment. "I think they might have it in the restricted section in the library, so we could check there."

"You would know all about it, you've been in that library so much," muttered Sirius, but didn't reject the idea.

"How would we get there? It is called restricted for a reason," interrupted Peter.

He could almost see the gears clicking away in Sirius's mind. Sirius's eyes were half way closed and finger perched on the side of his mouth in a rather philosophical manner. When Sirius's eyes snapped open and lips twisted into a full grin, Peter started to tremble. "We have our ways… I don't believe James would mind if we used his invisibility cloak for a while, would he, Moony?" Sirius lifted one of his eyebrows and wiggled it, implying an idea.

Remus quickly caught on and smiled back. "Not at all, Padfoot. Not at all."


	9. Oops

Lupin was on his way to the Whomping Willow when the breaking of a twig broke his mindset. Looking over his shoulder nonchalantly, he saw nothing but the darkening sky and the castle looming under it. Shaking his head, he plundered on, listening to the owl hootings and howls in the distance.

_The Shrieking Shack will again be haunted tonight,_ he thought and smiled sardonically at the thought, but he had another one in his head. _Why did Dumbledore want me to come here? He could have sent me to another place, maybe the Forbidden Forest._ Again he shook his head.

_Stop thinking like that!_ he chided himself, and continued on faster this time. The sun was already swinging down low and brilliant hues danced across the sky when he felt something brush up behind him.

This time he took no hesitation in whirling around, where he saw a deer pawing restlessly on a spot of ground. Its head was reared majestically, pronged antlers balanced atop the fearless stature. Lupin's face whitened, appearing almost bloodless._ It can't be a ghost!_ he thought wildly. _No- wait- James is here. He traveled back here- it's all right._

"James," he said, his face returning back to his regular paleness, breathing deeply. "What are you doing?"

At once the stag transformed into a laughing James. "Moony, you should have seen the look on your face! Like you'd seen a ghost, or something."

"I thought I did," he murmured slowly, then recovered and replied in a louder voice, "Just startled, that's all. And I believe I asked you a question?"

"You seemed so old back there, Moony! I thought I could lighten you up… you know, to have some fun! It looks like you haven't seen that in a while." He could almost detect a flicker of a smile on Lupin's face, but he couldn't be sure.

"I suppose it has been a long time. You'd better get back to the castle now; Lily and the rest are probably looking all over for you, I'll be fine."

"No, not Lily," James muttered. "She's not looking for me. We got into a fight. It was about something stupid too… I can't even remember what it was about…"

"I promise you, it will blow over," Lupin assured James, stopping to sit down.

"How do you know?" questioned James. "Did you turn into a Divination teacher?"

"I suppose everyone nowadays is a fortune teller for you, Prongs," said Lupin, purposely using James's nickname. It felt surprisingly good, and apparently James liked the name too. He slid down beside Lupin as they both stared off into the fading sun.

There were several moments of silence until James gathered the courage to ask his question, one he knew would not please his friend. "What happens?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean," Lupin responded, voice strained. He understood the question perfectly, but he was trembling inside. He couldn't tell James… but wouldn't his younger self have liked to know?

"In the future, I mean," James continued, ignoring the tight face of Lupin. "It's so tempting… just to know what happens. Tell me one thing, just one, and I promise I'll be happy."

Lupin shifted and seemed to be profoundly immersed in his thoughts. He finally managed to let out, "The Marauder's Map is in the hands of an expert troublemaker- used to be in the hands of the possibly worst ones. We did our duty."

James smiled delightedly when a flurried call sounded from the castle. "James! Where are you?" He started to leave but then looked over his shoulder at Lupin, who was still sitting beneath the tree. "Thanks, Moony. Do you think we can have a get together with the Marauders? You know, see what Padfoot and Wormtail are up too."

"I would if I could, James. I really would." His voice sounded more haggard than ever, and James helped him up to his feet. "I'll try to get onto the charm tomorrow," promised Lupin as he leaned against the trunk of the tree.

"Thanks… and please don't kill yourself down there," replied James, his face almost completely enclosed in darkness.

"I won't."

"James!" shouted Lily again, only her voice seemed closer this time. "Are you over there?"

"Yes… I'll be back there in a minute," he assured her and turned his head back toward Lupin. But he was gone, gradually making progress to the Whomping Willow.

_What happened to you, Moony?_ thought James as he began to jog up to Lily.

"I'm sorry James," apologized Lily as soon as he had approached near, "I was a complete idiot. I know you didn't mean to get us into this situation and I know we can get out of it." She smiled, but her eyes conveyed the regret of her former actions.

"It's fine," he replied, winking to show her, "but I was the one that was the jerk. I did get us into this position in the first place, right?"

Hermione felt some of her stress let go as she watched the two make up. Finally, at least one problem was solved. Ron appeared to have gained some anxiety, however, as his eyes suddenly bulged and he made rapid hand motions.

"Go ahead and brand me, Evans," James joked. "Write jerk all over me! I'm fully willing to admit my guilt." He bowed low, gliding backwards into the castle as the heavy wooden door creaked open.

Lily was walking with him, ready to retort back, when she felt a tug at her neck. Gasping, she realized that someone must have jerked on her cloak from behind her as she violently looked for the attacker. Instead, she only found Ron who had whisked her behind the looming doors.

"What…?" wondered Lily as Ron put a finger to her mouth.

"Look there… through the crack," he whispered and Lily dubiously peered through the small split from the doors.

_Bump._ James had backed into someone, someone rather tall and wearing masses of robes. Not thinking, he slowly spun around in a lounge fashion and drawled lazily, "I know you're ever so fond of me, Miss, but please refrain yourself from such… inadequate… behavior." It was a word he'd heard from Moony, and he secretly congratulated the intellectual boy for teaching him so many words. Prejudice, inadequate- why, he'd be the next Merriam Webster! "We can do this privately, if you'd like, but not while my fans are watching," he smirked while praising himself under half closed lids. Gazing up in what he thought would be a devil may care attitude and arching a brow; James received the shock of his life.

"What exactly did you mean by that, Mr. Potter?"


	10. The Crazy Librarian

"Ow!" Of course he'd already known what it felt like, to be tugged around by the ear. But this time, the pincher was holding much tighter and her fingernails dug into his skin. James tried twisting around and explaining to McGonagall about how it was a mistake, he really wasn't trying to hit on her, yet her angular face never turned to look at his.

"Mr. Potter, you have broken two rules," she would say whenever James attempted to speak up. "One, you were out of your dormitory when you were supposed to be in. Two, you deliberately flirted with a teacher." Her thin mouth would barely move and her square glasses remained firm on her nose.

"I didn't mean to… ouch!" He cringed as she pinched him harder this time. James recognized this hallway; it was the one that led to Dumbledore's office. He'd been here enough, but not as many times as Sirius. James made a mental note to give himself one more tally on his Headmaster Visits sheet, and he would only be one more behind Padfoot.

"Here we are," she announced. "Butterscotch toffee. Potter, what has gotten into you? I swear you're getting more and more like your fath…" She failed to finish as she urged him toward the steps and left with her back straight as a rod.

James didn't say anything, but went up the winding stairs instead. He was confused, and quite rightly. Who was Harry Potter? Was he a troublemaker or not? And would Dumbledore know it was him, James Potter?

"Erm- Professor?" He entered quietly, trying not to disturb anything. The office looked the same as always, except there was no Dumbledore. James plopped himself down on a chair opposite the Headmaster's and stared at the bookcase. This provided limited enjoyment as he fidgeted and started to get up and walk around. Thoughts started to enter his head, ones he rather would not have heard.

_Do they miss me, the Marauders? I think they should have found us by now. Could Lily and I really be stuck here forever? No. Don't even think about that. At least I have Moony… but it's not really him. Sure, he looks the same, but he's an adult... and different. Is Padfoot an adult? Well, I guess he is. I can't even think of what he looks like now. I still imagine him going around the school, declaring his undying love to McGonagall..._ A smile broke across his face as he sat down in Dumbledore's chair, an action that Sirius assured James would break the ice if the Headmaster happened to walk in at the moment. A twinge of curiosity struck him just then as he looked down at the Professor's desk. It stood, stationary and full of secrets.

_Wouldn't the Marauders just die if I got into this desk? _he thought impishly. Glancing around the room, he saw nobody, just as he had before. Grasping the knob of a drawer, James pulled gently. Surprisingly, it rolled open.

The contents were rather dull; there was nothing except some paperwork and an assortment of sweets. James shifted through these, hoping to discover something more interesting. Sirius certainly would scoff when James would boast how he had gotten into Dumbledore's drawer if there was nothing exciting. "What's so fascinating about that?" Sirius would say when James told him. Determined to find something, James moved the papers around more vehemently when his blood stopped cold. A picture, filled with waving people started back at him. His nose wrinkled in confusion, he could see a handsome man that looked like Sirius Black, only quite a few years old. Actually, James supposed, it was Black. Next to him was Remus Lupin, smile genuine though he looked rather weary. A fat, shifty eyed man stood a little closer to the camera, and James knew instantly it was Peter Pettigrew, and even closer to the photographer was James himself. It was obviously him, the untidy black hair and hazel eyes marked him so. He didn't look so different, which was a tremendous relief to James and to his delight, at his right was Lily Evans, more radiant than ever. Something was strange about it though… he noticed their shoulders were touching. Zeroing in on the two of them, he saw something even stranger… their hands were clasped. He couldn't hide his perplexity. Rifling through the drawer some more, he saw more photos of him, the Marauders and Lily, until he reached some newspaper articles. Hands trembling, he picked one up. It was the Daily Prophet, and its headlines screamed "FIRST PRISONER TO ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN!" Below was a particularly dirty man, blinking at James slowly. His hair was matted; his eyes haunted and empty. Skin stretched across his face tightly, giving the aura of gauntness. James skimmed the paragraph and managed to catch the names of himself, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. Maybe he should read this more carefully.

Setting it roughly down on the desk, James could hardly stop his heart from beating this fast. Why was he mentioned, and Sirius too? What did they have to do with an escaped convict? Surely it couldn't be about the Marauders as a whole; Remus's name would have been involved also. His eyes scanned desperately across the paper, forgetting his promise to read it nice and slowly.

"Wanted for murder… twenty muggles… James and Lily…Peter Pettigrew… betrayed… Harry… is working for the Dark Lord himself… Sirius Black… escaped." That was all he caught before a creak at the door was heard. Stuffing the paper quickly back into the desk, James hurried to his seat when Dumbledore walked in. He prayed his heart would stop thumping as the Professor glanced down at him. His eyes were shining broadly and his long white beard almost shimmered in the moon light.

"Up to some mischief, James?" he asked.

"How do you know I'm… well, me?" James asked in return. Dumbledore smiled again, this time perhaps savoring a secret.

"Severus Snape has informed me of Lily's return, and Remus Lupin came to inform me of yours. Very trusted men, I can assure you."

"That's probably why Remus went up to talk to you. Anyway, I got sent up here for hitting on Minnie. Fifty points is probably all I need, and then I'll be on my way. Thanks, Professor." James inclined his head toward Dumbledore and started to get out of his chair when Dumbledore chuckled.

"I'd forgotten how Minerva was Minnie for seven years… to the Marauders at least," he grinned and his blue eyes twinkling. "We also have a little more to discuss- about this situation. No, not about you and Professor McGonagall… that was just one of your old tricks I presume. It is more about this future circumstance."

"Oh." James sat down again, unhappy to be in the office longer than necessary. "I see. Couldn't we have this another time?" He wanted to look back at that paper; he knew it held answers only he could have dreamed of. What turns would his life take?

"No. This is urgent, James. We don't want you finding out any more about the future than we have to. But for now… how is the future?"

"Rather boring, sir," sighed James. "Remus won't tell me anything. He's just being so… well… strict."

"He's changed," said Dumbledore, staring directly at James. "We all have, since the old days." There was no hint of a smile now, and James was rather perturbed. He had never seen Dumbledore like this, ever. "Oh, he's still the same person, but some of his views have changed, and he's matured since we knew him as a child. Like you did."

"Me?" James could hardly let this out; it was only a wheezing breath. "What… am I like? Who am I?" He was crazy for information, anything. He was like a starved animal, reaching for the tiniest piece of food in sight.

"You'll see," smiled Dumbledore, though it barely reached his eyes. "All you need to know will come with time."

In an instant, he knew the Headmaster was not just talking about who James was, or how he had changed, but everything, from the newspaper article to whether his hair would ever sit flat. "I understand, Professor," replied James, hoping to convey comprehending in his eyes. "I really do."

Dumbledore acknowledged this with a small nod and he went on to say, "I'm not sure if you would like to take regular classes, and I would personally prefer if you stayed in some spare guest rooms. Have you told anyone of who you were?"

"No sir. But I think Minnie already suspects something," James admittedly rather abashedly, but keeping it down to a mild level.

"I trust Minerva. I will tell her later… would you like a lemon drop?"

James narrowed his eyes and said, "Did you jinx these?"

Dumbledore laughed and handed him a small sweet from the drawer James had opened previously. "Somehow I don't believe you would mind if they were."

"Hit it right on the nail, Professor," replied James and popped it into his mouth. "Right on."

-

_Back in the Past..._

"I can hardly see a thing!" complained Sirius as he almost crashed into an overturned chair in the restricted section of the library.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," Remus assured him, holding the invisibility cloak a little higher than before, hoping to let in some light. The pitch dark library held only fear for poor Peter as he barely said a word throughout the whole journey.

Peter squirmed uncomfortably and gazed out at the looming bookshelves, staring eerily down at him. "I don't feel so good about this," he moaned, nervously shifting his eyes about. They decided to carry out their plan later that evening, near midnight when no one would be up for sure.

Sirius rolled his eyes as he slid out of the cloak. "Let me look around. I'll have that book in no time. What would the book be under again? Charms?"

"Try Ancient Charms," called back Remus. "Let me help, Sirius." Turning to Peter, he whispered, "It'll only be a few minutes. Madam Pince shouldn't even be here, she's lying in her bed asleep, like most normal people should." At this Remus looked at Sirius with irritation as it was his idea to execute this in the darkest of night, but Black only laughed. With that, Remus slipped out from under the cloak and looked on with disproval at Sirius's flurried searching, calling out advice quietly.

Remaining in the robe, Peter shivered as his eyes roved around. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there. "Guys!" he squealed, hopping from one foot to another, "Madam Pince! She's…"

Sirius turned around sharply as the librarian drifted through the halls, approaching their location with dangerous precision. "Moony, get under the cloak! Peter, get out here and transform, because I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Remus dashed to the cloth and threw it over his head as a rat scuttled from beneath it. He looked for Sirius, but only saw a black dog where the handsome male once stood. He hoped Sirius had a plan, because otherwise they could get in big trouble.

"Get awakened from a nightmare and this is what I get!" he heard her mumbling, "Intruders, probably that Black boy no doubt…" She gazed across the room, holding up her lumos-ized wand to guide her weak eyes through the restricted section.

Remus held his breath. _Don't get caught… don't get caught, _he found himself praying as he edged his way slowly toward Sirius and Madam Pince.

A sudden shriek from the librarian confirmed that she had seen the dog. "A dirty… no good… dog!" she hissed, her face contorted. "How did you get in here? Well, go away! One of those children's pets, I suppose… filthy creature! I said, go!"

Sirius stood his ground, wondering whether to leave or stay. He'd never seen the librarian worked up into such a fury, and personally, he liked it. Eventually his mischievous side got the better of him, as he went up to Madam Pince and rubbed her leg. He growled low with pleasure as Remus looked on with exasperation.

_What is he doing?_ Remus wondered, a slight grin on his face. _You'd better get out of there, Padfoot, before she does anything…_

Madame Pince was in pure shock as the dog licked her hand, its adoring eyes looking up at hers. "What in the world…?" she muttered, as she took her free hand and slid off her shoe quietly. "This'll teach that dog a lesson," she muttered with a grimace as she began to hit the dog square over the head fiercely.

Remus started to laugh in spite of himself, but kept it silent as Madam Pince hit him a few more times. He remembered that she had never liked dogs, especially larger ones. 'Never trust them,' she once told him bitterly. 'Petted one of those grimy creatures, and it bit me.' He recalled himself accepting her advice and carrying off his book, but never thought of the information again until now.

Sirius grinned as well as he could in his canine form, showing his gleaming teeth. He found it unbelievably funny in the least. "You… you… smiling demon you!" The librarian's face had grown quite red as she stuffed her foot back in her shoe. "Scamper, dirty mutt!" Next thing Sirius knew, he was being kicked with a sharp high heel in his side.

"Take that!" she cried as she booted him again, much to the amusement of Remus, but he cringed when she did it again with more force. He had to do something, or Sirius would end up looking like him after a full moon.

He sneaked over to a stack of books in the regular section as quietly as possible, still watching Sirius being kicked by the mad librarian. Groaning, he leaned against them with all of his might and it swayed dangerously. One more push, and the pile had fallen to the ground with a mighty smack.

"What in the…? I'll be back," she snarled at Sirius as she dashed over to the overturned pile, leaving him on the ground with sides heaving, but not without one last well directed kick.

"Jesus! Sirius, are you all right?" demanded Remus, running over the spot where he was residing and watching the woman step over the rope that separated the restricted section from the regular.

"That… was… so… damn… funny!" wheezed Sirius, tears streaming down his face as he turned back into a man.

"I think you need your head examined," Remus sighed, offering a hand to the struggling Black. "That was pure idiocy." When Sirius had managed to get back in the cloak, Remus whisked them briskly back to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Let's not do that again," he muttered, obviously shaken at the near exposure as he opened the portrait.

"I object to that!" yelled Sirius, still laughing.


	11. Father and Son

Harry was pretending to be asleep when he heard the door open and then shut softly. Turning around as if troubled by a dream, he took a peek through his half shut eyes to see who it was. In the darkness, he could make out a tall figure with a long face and he immediately flipped to his stomach. It was Ron. The person he hated most in the world, for betraying him and his trust when he needed it the most.

"Harry?" The voice was unsure, and wavering. He couldn't bring himself to look at his friend, but he opened his eyes as he stared at the pillow. "Are you awake?" No sound, he reminded himself. Not one movement.

"Listen… I'm sorry," said Ron softly. _Was that really going to help?_ Harry thought angrily. _Those miserable two words won't fix anything between us._ He felt his bed sink from beneath him as Ron sat on the edge of it, gazing off toward the window. "Something weird is going on, Harry. Something none of us understand…" Ron trailed off.

_What was he talking about?_ Harry thought.

"I could be ruining your life right now, by being attracted to her," Ron continued, still looking through the window as if the moon could give him answers. "I just don't know, Harry. This is all just too confusing."

He sat up so suddenly, Ron jumped off the bed. "Well, I know, Ron. I don't care if you love that girl, what hurts me is you not telling me! You never tell me anything anymore since the fifth year, when I came to Number 12! Why can't you tell me?" shouted Harry.

"I can't!" cried Ron desperately. "I… just… can't… tell." Harry remained rigid on the bed, hearing his former friend's words but not comprehending them. Why not? He wanted to ask.

"I just wanted to come up here to apologize," he finished lamely and started to leave when Harry piped up, "Wait." Ron turned around; face still covered in the darkness. "Maybe some things should be kept hidden," he admitted.

Ron waited a couple more minutes when he realized Harry wasn't going to say anymore. "Well… I'll be going then," he said and went through the door, being careful to shut it quietly.

Harry soon slid out of his bed and sat on the floor, propping himself up against his trunk. He'd made a mess of things, a terrible mess. He needed friends more than ever with the prophecy in his mind at all times… and Sirius…

Moaning, he buried his face in his hands and thought, _If my parents were alive, none of this would have happened. None of it._ Through the silence, he heard a wolf howl from outside as he drifted off to sleep, dreaming nightmares of his godfather falling… falling into the veil…

"What did you want to talk to me about, Albus?" asked Minerva McGonagall as she strode into his office. "It's late. Is this really that important?"

Dumbledore smiled and gestured her to the chair opposite him. "It's important enough."

She glanced at him sternly but sat down nevertheless as the Headmaster swiveled his chair around, the back rest toward her. "Do you believe in the impossible, Minerva?" he asked.

Her eyebrows knit together as she pursed her lips. "I'm not quite sure I heard you." She didn't like the way this conversation was going, not in the least.

"I know you did. What is your answer? Don't be ashamed, I just want to know the truth."

"It's called impossible for a reason," she replied stiffly.

For a moment, Dumbledore stayed silent before saying, "What if I broke that foundation? What if the impossible… were possible?"

She gave a brittle laugh. "And what do you mean by that, Albus? Surely you don't think of people coming back from the dead and what not."

"No," he said slowly, "I meant time travel." There was an awkward pause as McGonagall gave a questioning stare. Finally, what she'd always suspected of Dumbledore had come true. He'd gone crazy.

There was a slight sigh on the Transfiguration teacher's part as she whispered, "Are you trying to tell me something?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to know, but curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"James and Lily are here from the future," he explained gently. "We aren't sure how, but they are here. I've seen them, Minerva, with my own two eyes."

"Don't do this to us," McGonagall said sharply. "We all miss them, but this isn't the time for… for hallucinations! Pressing matters are at hand, we don't have much time left… please… just don't say this…" Her voice had begun to waver and she hurriedly stopped to readjust.

"But it's true," stated the Headmaster. "I have Remus Lupin's word on it, and I have proof also."

"Remus Lupin," she replied, voice cold, "is a troubled man. Surely he might see them, for some friends after what happened at the Department of Mysteries last summer. He would do well to console Harry, but apparently he hasn't made the effort…"

"I feel that Remus is a bit hesitant to get close to anyone, considering what danger he thinks he poses to others."

"I would like to see your proof," she cut in, abruptly changing the subject, not wanting to talk about Harry. Already too much time had been wasted on the boy's misery and Sirius's death.

Lightening slashed across the sky, illuminating the room. Dumbledore's voice carried clear through her as he spoke softly, "Look, Minerva."

Her eyes followed his as it landed on two silhouettes, one of a man and a woman. McGonagall's breath caught in her throat. "It can't be…" Shock overrode her calmness and persistence as she watched in horror and joy as James and Lily stepped closer to the teacher.

"Professor McGonagall?" she heard a soft voice ask, a musical voice that could only belong to Lily Potter.

"I heard you haven't married Sirius yet… I'm sure he's devastated," a masculine voice added, and Minerva could almost see the smirk on James Potter's face.

"Stop James," Lily replied with a note of humor in her voice. "When you talk to a professor, you don't start off with their personal life!"

"I was just wondering," he defended himself as he turned toward McGonagall. "So. Are we evidence enough for you?"

The only sound besides the rain and thunder clapping was soft sobs, followed by a series of short, choppy breaths. "Lily's… right you know," Minerva managed to choke out. "If you want to… be on my good side, Potter… you don't… ask about… about…" By this time, Lily and James couldn't make anything else out as a fresh cry arose from the teacher.

"Since when are you so happy to see me?" demanded James jokingly, while McGonagall struggled to compose herself.

"If you value your life, Potter, you'd keep quiet," sniffed McGonagall, pulling a handkerchief out of her robes.

"Well, goodnight then," replied James offhandedly.

"Goodnight!" Lily called back cheerfully. When the door had closed, McGonagall faced Dumbledore with trembling jaw.

"They're here… they're really here…" she whispered, rapture clearly on her face. "But I have a question."

Dumbledore stopped short and looked up at her from his desk. "How am I going to punish James for what he did tonight when I'm so happy to see him alive?" she wondered.

-

"I don't want to sleep on the floor!" protested James adamantly. "Why don't you?" They were standing in the Gryffindor boys' dorm, watching the five beds in the room with troubled glares, four of which were occupied.

"I don't either! Besides, it's my bed," shot back Ron.

"Hey, who's the one that just time traveled twenty years into the future?" James asked cockily, tilting his head to one side. Sighing, Ron threw his hands up in the air.

"Fine. But tomorrow, you're sleeping right here on the floor."

"Agreed."

Ron laid himself gently on the floor, hoping to find it softer than usual. To his displeasure, it was still as hard as ever. _What's the use of being a wizard when you can't conjure up a bed?_ Ron thought, irritated, as he stared at the ceiling, glancing occasionally at James who was quite content in the bed. His shoulder was hitting the ground in an awkward way, and his eyes seemed unable to close. He shifted to his side and huddled in a ball to get warm. Why hadn't he noticed it was so cold without a bedspread?

"Here." The voice came from above him, and Ron twisted his head to see who it was. "Do you have it?" The blanket James had thrown to the red-haired boy was now draped over his head rather bulkily as he tore it off his head.

"Thanks," muttered Ron as he arranged it over his long frame. "Next time you might want to warn me." At least his staying warm wasn't an issue anymore.

There were several creaks from above; Ron guessed it was James turning toward him. "So you're friends with Harry," he commented. It was more of a statement then a question, so Ron responded nonchalantly, "Well, I used to be at least."

"What happened? A fight?"

"Yeah, but he's been kind of depressed since Sirius…" At once Ron bit his tongue. What had he been thinking, talking about Harry's Godfather's death?

"Sirius? He knows Sirius, as in Sirius Black?"

Ron gulped. He'd gotten himself into a messy situation. "Yes."

"So you know him too!" There was a note of excitement in James's voice, one he hadn't heard the whole time Harry's father had been here. "What's he like now?"

"Kind of… reckless… I dunno." He didn't want to bury himself in this conversation. "He wa- is nice…. In a weird way…"

James laughed out loud. "I'm sure he'd like to hear that. What about Remus?"

"You mean Professor Lupin?" Ron asked, smiling. "The best bloody Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we ever had!"

"He was your teacher?" James sounded surprised. "Well, that makes sense why some of the kids in class knew him. Except I didn't know it was him at the time… so… Wait. Does he still teach?"

Shaking his head, Ron replied, "No. If we had had a teacher like him for all of our years at Hogwarts, I would have gotten Outstanding on all my OWLS. We rarely used parchment anyhow, which was new."

"Really?" A tone of respect sneaked into James's voice. "I never knew Moony was so cool."

"Yeah. Cool." Ron started to slur his words together, and then said rather sleepily, "Hey… I'm sort of tired… I'm going to sleep now."

He muttered his approval as he watched Ron doze off rather quickly. _Must have been bushed,_ thought James, listening to the boy's snores. _What a day_. Closing his eyes, he waited for sleep, but it never came. It often eluded him, especially since he started falling for Lily. Lily…

James imagined her hair and her eyes, the startling green that reflected the grass. He saw her in class, giving the teacher a gorgeous smile, then helping out one of those kids that could never get anything right… Suddenly, he wanted to talk to her, just to see her. That's it, he assured himself, swinging his legs over the bed. That's all. Rumpling his hair with one hand, he reached out with the other to grab his glasses when a groan was heard to his right.

"Ron?" asked a voice, garbled with sleepiness. James froze. Was the boy talking to _him_? "I'm sorry…"

James stayed on the bed, eyes glued to the floor. Maybe if he ignored the voice, it would go away. He didn't want to be found out.

"I had that dream again," the voice continued. James replied softly, mind racing, "Oh- that dream?"

"He was falling," whispered the voice drowsily. "I couldn't stop him. Lupin was holding me back. I tried to get him… I did… he said he was gone, that there was nothing I could do…"

He felt as if he had pried into the boy's life, the boy sleeping next to him. He had no right to, but here James was, eavesdropping. Or was he? James was being directly addressed. Lupin… how did he know Remus? Oh yeah. He had been their teacher. James really had to remember this stuff. "I miss him," said the boy, tone curiously light as if having just realized the truth.

Shocked at the emotion in the boy's voice, James still said nothing. Poor kid. He'd never heard anyone speak this openly. Moony had come close when he described all of his fears for the future, and Sirius when he told of how he hated his family. But for some reason, this struck a particular chord. He wanted to comfort the boy… to tell him it would be all right. But for now, he stayed silent, ear cocked toward the voice.

A shuddering breath was heard from the bed, perhaps trying to clear his mind of the sleepiness or tears. "Could you quiet down, Harry? Some of us are trying to sleep- and you too, Ron," came another voice, thick with an Irish brogue, further to James's right.

James let out an, "All right," in a voice that hopefully sounded like Ron's. The boy next to him, Harry, he was called, replied back dazedly, "Sorry."

Finally, all was quiet again. The soft breathing of Harry on his right and the loud snorts of Ron on his left were enough to keep James up, though. He could only stare at the ceiling and think, _That was Harry. That was the boy I pretended to be._


	12. Frank the Duck

"Hey! That hurts!" Sirius Black put a hand over his aching bruise, mottled purple and a little green.

"Hold on," muttered Remus as he bandaged the wound, carefully twisting the linen. "There. Now, repeat after me. I will not do something that stupid again."

"Nah, I don't feel like it," Sirius replied as he sat up. Remus rolled his eyes as he leaned back into the common room sofa, sitting in front of the crackling fire. The evening had come to nothing at all. So if the spell had not been in Flitwick's room, not even in the Restricted Section, where could James have found it?

Sirius glanced around before leaning in to the flanking Marauders, and whispered, "We need a new plan."

"You got that right," snorted Remus as Peter kept fidgeting in place. "We have no leads. Zero."

"Well," smiled Sirius, "I have some… brain food, they call it." He quickly reached into his robes and pulled something out, which he hid behind his back before anyone could see.

"What is it, Padfoot?" moaned Remus, knowing when Sirius was up to something.

"Don't get defensive on me!" Sirius held out his hands, showing he had nothing to hide. "I just brought the…"

The item was tossed into the middle of the common room, which Peter eagerly crawled over to. "The Sacred Mix Match!"

Remus began to groan. "This is the stupidest thing…" But it was too late. Peter had already ripped open the packet of "Sacred Mix Match" and devoured one within the matter of a second. Sirius was soon crawling over too, sharing in the treat.

"I already told you!" Remus said to Sirius, who was grinning wildly. "No matter what you and Prongs say, these are not Sacred Mix Match. These are Oreos."

"Oreos!" he scoffed. "It's such a silly word for a cookie like this. Come on, just eat one. We have nothing else to do, and besides, I had to raid Dumbledore's office to find one. You don't get Muggle stuff like this from the kitchens."

Remus sighed but obliged, taking one and twisting it apart. In his hand was two halves of Oreo- or Sacred Mix Match- with frosting on one and none on the other. Finally caving into the looks of the Marauders, he grudgingly ate the two halves separately.

Sirius had done the same, but licked the cream first and sandwiched the two remaining cookies together, popping it in his mouth with a loud crunch. It had been a tradition since the third year, when James filched a pack from the Muggle-born Sandra King. Immediately dubbed "Sacred Mix Match," despite Remus's previous knowledge, they ate it only when out of ideas or pranks.

Peter was chomping them whole, and had eaten more than the rest of them put together. "Come up with any ideas yet, Padfoot?" asked Remus, turning toward Sirius.

"Yes, actually quite a few," he lied and ran his fingers through his long hair. "But before I tell you, I'm going to have to think of how to phrase them." This elicited an eye rolling from Remus.

"What? They're complicated philosophies!" Remus shook his head as all the Marauders reached for another Sacred Mix Match.

-

James never thought he'd find himself rushing to get up, but that was precisely what he was doing the next morning. "Get up before anyone sees you!" Ron had urged, hurrying to get into his robes. "Quick!"

To his utter annoyance, Lily was already up when he got down to the common room. "What made you so eager to get up today, Evans?" he had asked her. "Seeing me, I presume."

Something that sounded like a snort came from Lily. "Is he always this arrogant?" wondered Hermione, but the question was left unanswered as the group walked down to the Great Hall.

James sat where the Marauders and he always sat, propping his feet up. The seats were closest to the teacher's table, but it made it all the more sweet when they got away with pranks right under authority's nose.

Preparing to sit down, Lily heard a distinctive cough. "Pardon me, Miss Evans, but where are you going?" inquired James in an exaggerated tone of dignity.

"You're not going to let me sit here, are you?"

"If you're one of the Marauders, you may. But you're not." He made a large show of gesturing, showing her the back of his chair. Carved in gold lettering, it read "Prongs."

She narrowed her eyes and sat down, ignoring his statement. Jumping up, she exclaimed, "It shocked me!"

James shrugged. "I told you," he replied in a teasing tone. "Marauders only."

Lily was about to retort when the Great Hall doors were pushed open by Remus Lupin, looking rather pale and tired. Quickly crossing the room, he sat down across from James, apparently not seeing the irritated look on Lily's face that the table let him sit.

Leaning on his elbows, Lupin said quietly, "James, I'm going to have to warn you about a few things."

James nodded, smiling slightly as the back of Lupin's chair carved "Moony" into the wood.

"First off, I don't want to see you in any classes. Attending any would be extremely dangerous, as you might be seen or… who knows what else. Next, even coming to the Great Hall was extraordinarily reckless! You should be in your rooms, which Professor Dumbledore has just kindly put up for your use. Thirdly, keep yourself hidden. It would be complete chaos."

Watching the first few people trickle into the hall, James grinned as they crowded around Remus to look in confusion at his chair. This was going to be good.

"Next, please do not mention Sirius Black… don't ask why, but I assure you, it will cause a commotion."

"Professor Lupin?" asked a first-year Ravenclaw hesitantly, hugging her books.

"Yes, Miss Carr?" Remus said, turning away from James to look at the girl.

"Why does your chair say Moony?"

At this, Lupin leapt out of the chair as if poisonous. James had already gotten the better of him. In the meantime, James laughed quietly, covering his hand to his mouth.

"I'm not quite sure, but I will figure out. Thank you for noticing that," said Lupin courteously. He couldn't help but add, though, "That young man behind me was eyeing you… but he's a bit shy. I think he would appreciate it if you talked to him a little."

James's mouth dropped open as the small girl started to blush immensely and gave him a wink. Oh, Moony, the war is on… He was just about to retort when Hermione interrupted rather bossily, "I hate to barge in, but I would like to perform a Disillusionment charm on Lily and you, if you don't mind. You know, since we don't want anyone seeing you?"

Smiling rather mischievously, Lupin went up to the Professor's table. He couldn't help it.

"Professor Severus Snape will be leaving within a few days on a short leave. In the meantime, I would like to introduce one of our past Defense Against the Dark Arts professors- Professor R. J. Lupin!" announced Dumbledore.

The Great Hall filled with thunderous applause and loud whooping from the Gryffindor table, much to the delight of James. He was always glad to his friend was well received. As he glanced over to the Slytherin table, many of the students sat sullenly and seemed depressed. _Figures._ As the clapping died away, James stood up and said a tad too loudly, "Go Moony!"

Several heads swiveled in his direction, but simply stuck out his tongue as Hermione shot him a glare. She couldn't see him anyway. Lupin had started blushing and sat down quickly at sound of the nickname. Ron immediately began to talk to Harry and hoped he hadn't heard anything at the other end of the Gryffindor table.

"Someone has also told me that last year a pair of our most… mischievous… troublemakers made a dramatic exit involving a swamp, broomsticks, and a rather ill- spirited Defense teacher. The staff and I would like to present an award to these young men, which, may I remind you, is not an accomplishment, and has only been given out once in the past," continued Dumbledore.

James started to chuckle. Oh, he remembered that award- Moony had been blushing like crazy and Padfoot was smiling manically when having received it the year after they graduated.

"Fred and George Weasley please step up!" smiled Dumbledore, a twinkle in his eye. The twins, who had obviously been informed of this earlier, came up with large grins on their faces, a piece of parchment sticking out of Fred's robes. They needed the Marauder's Map for luck- Harry had given it up as soon as they asked.

Once again, the Hall applauded for the graduated boys who were looking a little sheepish.

"You know, I cannot say who worse, the men who received this award previously or Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley over here. Do you remember the Marauders, Minerva?" he said to her.

"How could I forget? Those boys… especially the insufferable one always asked for a kiss… he proposed to me in the seventh year you know… he started to gag when I said yes- Oh, I didn't hold him to it. They were the worst boys I'd ever seen." She smiled fondly, eyes drifting to the spot she assumed James to be and to Lupin.

"The Marauders?" Fred asked interestedly as George continued, "They actually were our inspiration, sort of."

Dumbledore gave a small quizzical gaze as he replied, "Oh?"

"Well, we didn't know them personally, but they left something of… practical use lying around the castle. Right, Fred?" The other twin nodded in agreement.

"Right. How could we forget Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs- helping troublemakers every step of the way?"

Lupin, who had just taken a sip from his goblet, began choking in surprise as James beamed with pride.

"Are you okay, Professor?" asked George. Lupin waved a hand and said, "Just fine. Please, do continue."

"Anyway, they were our idols back while we were in Hogwarts-" began Fred reminiscently, but McGonagall cut him off abruptly.

"It wasn't that long ago, Mr. Weasley."

"Yes, you do have a point. Well, we never imagined the Marauders actually went to Hogwarts… that anyone actually KNEW them- they seemed kind of like mysterious figures- you never knew who they were."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled again rather merrily. "Oh, I believe Professor Lupin and Professor Snape did," he added offhandedly. "They were in their same year."

Fred glanced at them interestedly. "You knew them? Wow."

Trying to keep calm, Lupin replied, "We've met." Snape snorted and dug savagely into his food.

"Who were they? I mean, Fred and I bet that Moony had more common sense than the lot of them, Padfoot was the totally irresponsible and wacky one, Prongs was just like Padfoot, just keyed down a notch and Wormtail was a kind of hanger-on," explained George quickly.

"You guessed right," Lupin said simply.

Fred smiled cockily as George slipped in one last question. "Did you ever… hang out?"

Lupin seemed to be pondering before he answered, "Oh… a little." A faint crease had appeared between his eyebrows as he realized James's chair had pushed away from the table. What did he think he was doing?

It should be here somewhere… right under that board. God, he hoped it was still there…

Yes! It was! Buried under a loose board in the closet and a large sheet of dust, the video camera laid tranquilly on the ground. James smiled and brushed off it off. Good as new… Hogwarts, meet the Marauders!

Hermione knew something was up when a video camera floated through the hall, and it definitely had something to do with James. Reason number one, the Potter wasn't here. Point number two, Professor Lupin looked as if someone had just kicked him in the gut.

It floated toward the center of the hall, and then stopped, almost settling on the air. A click was heard and Lupin took a sharp breath. He remembered this… how long Sirius and James had worked on it…

The lights turned off, and most students gasped. A light swirled out of the camera, reminding Lupin of a film projector- which it mostly was. This had to have been James's doing. An image appeared on the wall behind the teachers, though simply a black square. Suddenly, voices were heard. Ron glanced up, confused, while Harry didn't look. In the matter of fact, he tuned it out. What did anything matter?

"Is this working?" came the voice of James.

"I think so. After a year of work, we actually got this thing done!" shouted the voice of Sirius excitedly. "The Marauder's talent shines again! So can they actually see us? I mean, it took a while to get this powered by magic and not batties…"

"Batteries. Actually, they can't see you, Padfoot," a slightly hoarse voice laughed. "The cap's still on." Lupin froze. It was him.

"There's a subject! Let's talk about ourselves! I know you're good at that, Prongs," joked Sirius, still not having unscrewed the cap.

"You know I am. Anyways, as you already know, we are the famous Marauders. Obviously, you'll want to hear about our amazingly vast career in troublemaking. Motto, Padfoot?"

"Causing mischief and mayhem wherever we go, Snivellus Snape will get stepped on the toe!" exclaimed the voice of Sirius.

A large sigh was heard as the cap was unscrewed and everyone craned their heads eagerly to see the Marauders. Oddly enough, they could only see the bottom of the bed and two pairs of shoes. The hoarse voice to the left of the camera moaned, "That was the worst rhyme ever, Padfoot. I thought you would get better as the years went by, but I was proven wrong."

"Thank you, Moony. So, everyone can see the amazing me now?"

A snort was heard from Moony. "You do know they can only see your shoes- the center of vision comes from that glass circle."

"This?" A finger was poked at the glass, clouding the attentive audience's vision. "The things Muggles come up with. Oy, Peter! Can you hold this camera up?"

A mumbled, "Sure," came from behind them, and after a few seconds of swaying blurriness, the Great Hall was able to see the Marauders. James, with his untidy black hair and glasses, Sirius with that cocky smile and relaxation exaggerated in every limb while Remus was in the background, back toward the camera, looking at something. There they were, sitting on the bed that hadn't changed twenty years in the future. Same room, same décor… different people.

"Let's start with introductions. The man you're seeing now is the incredible-" started Sirius, tossing back his long, dark hair.

"Insane-"

"Arrogant-"

"Padfoot," finished Sirius, giving a glare at James and Remus.

"And I'm Prongs… leader of the pack, best out of all," boasted James jokingly, holding his head high to the ceiling.

"Just so you all know, I'm not the only one who's arrogant," Sirius whispered, pointing a finger at James.

"I heard that. Mr. Moony, would you be so kind as to explain who you are?" James said, turning to the figure in the back.

Moony sighed again and slowly got up, facing the camera, looking pale and exhausted. Hermione didn't know how anyone couldn't see this was Professor Lupin, but apparently they didn't.

"I'm Moony… the sane one of the Marauders. Mostly, I keep them in check and warn them about things."

"You don't JUST do that! What about that time you turned McGonagall's hair red and gold, Mr. Prefect?"

"Or that time that you turned the Slytherin common room into a swimming pool?" insisted Sirius.

Rolling his eyes, Moony replied, "They had it coming. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back... to work…"

Sirius and James shot a look at each other before one muttered, "I thought he was going to say get back to sleep."

Laughter was heard around the Great Hall. Lily was watching in pure disgust at the confession on tape. So that was Remus that made the common room full of water? Well, he apparently hadn't been rule-abiding Prefect she'd thought he was. James slipped in next to her, grinning like mad. "Like our tape, Evans?"

"Hate it," she said levelly.

"Thank you. Such a rare compliment," James replied and went back to watching the video.

McGonagall frowned at Lupin, who was calmly watching the film. If she would have known it was him, he would have gotten two weeks of detention for that prank. The color took forever to get out. Regular _scrougify_ charms didn't work, nor did putting it in a bun, yet everyone still noticed.

Fred and George, however, were looking extremely awed. Their idols were right here on screen, retelling all their experiences. Why hadn't they thought of doing the swimming pool prank…?

A small, squeaking voice was heard on the clip. "Can I…?" Sirius and James shrugged as Remus obligingly went behind to hold the camera.

"Be our guest, Wormtail." A slightly chubby, round faced boy made his way to the camera, pausing, as if at loss of words to say.

"I'm… I'm Wormtail… the… less famous one." This produced a bark-like laugh from Sirius, making Harry feel a sudden pang of longing. The video had been bad enough… but that laugh… Peter and Remus once again went back to their original positions while James attempted to turn Sirius's hair purple, but gave up quickly.

"I believe it's time to show our audience of our greater accomplishments… like a prank. What are you working on back there, Moony?" asked James, rather devilishly.

"It's still in experimental testing, Prongs. It's supposed to make a person sound like an animal… for example, 'Bark, bark,' but right now, it's…"

James threw this comment off with a flick of his hand. "Good enough. Let's call it…"

"Moony's Not Yet Perfected Prank," interrupted Remus, glancing up at the two Marauders.

"Excellent!" James cried, not realizing that Remus was rather dryly joking. Stepping over to the werewolf, he swiped his wand over the cylinder shaped item, inscribing, 'Moony's Not Yet Perfected Prank.'

The Weasley twins' mouths dropped open. They've used that trick before, right in their first year. Watching the men who made it almost blew them away…

"And who shall we drop it on?" asked Sirius rather innocently, though everyone could see through his gleaming eyes he knew exactly who.

Remus shook his head. "Not Snape, Padfoot. You already know we caused him enough trouble with that Whomping Willow… I've apologized about a billion times, but he still thinks I was in on it…"

"Fine. Whoever enters here first, agreed?" Sirius asked, obviously guilty over tricking Snape into the tree.

"Agreed," said James firmly. Remus looked extremely hesitant, but nevertheless nodded.

"Perfect… toss me one of those, Moony," commanded Sirius. For a while, nothing happened. Sirius Black stood, poised at the door, waiting equipped, while James was also armed with the prank and standing on the other side of the door. Remus was shaking his head and went back to scribbling on a piece of paper.

Several girls in the Great Hall were giggling over Sirius, while the teachers were staring at Lupin in amusement. Harry watched eyes wide and Ron was totally disbelieving. This was Sirius Black? That was Professor Lupin? Wow, life sure changed when you got older.

Finally caving into the temptation, Remus stood up and joined the armed Marauders at the door. "If it's McGonagall, I'm killing you," he said briefly.

"You would never do that to me, Moony old friend… exception when you're a man eating beast, of course."

"Shut up." At that moment, the door creaked open. The Marauders gave each other mischievous grins before Sirius casually flipped the Moony's Not Yet Perfected Prank out the door.

A shout, exclaiming, "What the…?" Then, a quack.

Sirius was laughing so hard, he was on the floor, soon accompanied by James. Remus, on the other hand, dashed out to see who the unfortunate victim was. When he came back in, he appeared rather dazed.

"You idiots," he breathed. "You just… turned…" Suddenly, everyone noticed the duck resting in Remus's hands.

"Quack!"

The hall exploded with laughter, as did Sirius and James on the video. "It's not funny," protested Remus, but he began to chuckle helplessly anyway.

"Who… was it?" gasped James, struggling for air. The whole rest of the Hall listened attentively.

"Frank Longbottom," Remus said. "He's a HEAD BOY, Prongs! We turned the head boy into a duck!"

Neville went into a state of shock. These men turned his dad into a duck. A duck.

"We've got to turn him back…" murmured Remus, still laughing slightly. "A duck! I never knew…"

Abruptly, the door to the boy's dorm was flung open. "Siri… I've been looking for you everywhere, I…" The attractive girl stopped mid-sentence as she took in the flapping duck and the boys rolling on the floor.

"Siri?" choked Remus, almost dropping Frank. "You let her call you that, Padfoot?"

"That's me mum!" shouted Seamus suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone in the Great Hall. Sure enough, Padfoot's girlfriend did indeed resemble Seamus's mother.

"Maggie! You have now officially witnessed the Marauder's newest prank…"

"Turning people into ducks?"

"Turn off the camera, Padfoot!"

"A duck!"

"Quack!"

"I can't hear anything!"

"Aren't you proud?"

"This is chaos."

"This prank is going straight in the book, Moony!"

The last scene the Hogwarts students and staff saw was Moony rushing over and turning off the camera, looking rather exasperated.

Fred and George stared at the wall where the image once was, gazing hungrily at it. Their idols were everything they imagined them to be and more.


	13. Divination

Harry thought the video was over, much to his disappointment. Seeing his father and Sirius again had been refreshing, almost exciting to see his late Godfather so young and happy. But that was before Peter had betrayed them. Ron was staring at Harry apprehensively, as if trying to make out whether Harry was all right. "Are you…" began Ron, but a sound broke through his comment. James's voice sounded from the camera.

"Can you believe it's still here, Padfoot?" muttered James, looking curiously into the camera. The present day James's mouth dropped open. This version of him was older, slightly taller and joy lit up his face.

"Idiot, of course it is! I didn't see Moony stealing it, though he could use it. He needs the money," laughed Sirius, appearing to be about twenty. "Besides, shouldn't you be at the alter? Your lovely bride awaits the noble deer." James pushed Sirius, but it was obvious that he was too happy to let anything affect him. _My… bride?_ thought James, dumbfounded. Lily smirked at him, green eyes sparkling.

"Glad you stopped chasing after me and got yourself a wife," she said, as he felt her flip her hair.

"It could be you," he retorted angrily. She didn't quite manage to contain a laugh.

"In your dreams," she muttered, turning back to the screen. Remus was entering the dorm, smiling disbelievingly at the camera, but in an instant the image went dim. The figures of Sirius, James and Remus could be seen no more. Students moaned in annoyance, while the teachers looked slightly confused. The only one that seemed to betray no emotion was Remus Lupin, who was slipping his wand back into his robes.

Dumbledore coughed loudly, making everyone look up. "Well, then, it appears that all of you… do know the Marauders, and we can all safely assume that they received this award without doubt." Ripples of laughter went through the hall, and Harry joined in. Looking back on his father made him surprisingly light-hearted, much to Ron's and his own astonishment.

"Professor," interrupted George. "What happened to the video?" Dumbledore gave a smile, eyes twinkling.

"It's time for classes to begin, and I'm afraid no matter how entertaining this video camera is, we must go to lessons." Fred sighed impatiently, subconsciously fingering the faded parchment he had in his robes. Good old Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. He was slowly getting sucked back into reminiscing when he caught Lupin's stare. Why was Lupin staring at the map like that? Growing more uneasy by the second, Fred shifted, showing his discomfort. The teacher's gaze lifted, much to his relief.

The Great Hall filed out quickly with McGonagall stepping out briskly to lead them, leaving Fred and George almost alone in the room. Lupin strode toward them, facing them with a rather odd look.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, voice low.

George shrugged, glancing at Fred. "We asked Harry for it… Harry Potter. He leant it to us… it's just a spare bit of parchment, really…" He couldn't figure out why Lupin smiled like that, with his eyes rather thoughtful and soft. Suddenly, the teacher's brow furrowed and he asked, almost urgently,

"May I see it, please?"

Fred turned up his mouth doubtfully, trying to think up an excuse. "It's just a piece of…"

"I know it's not just a piece of paper. I really need the map, now, Fred," said Lupin. Ignoring the protesting looks from George, Fred weakly lifted it out of his pocket. He'd borrowed the map for about a minute, and now he'd got it confiscated. Great. He was not looking forward to seeing the map taunt Lupin.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," whispered Remus, and the twins stared in disbelief as the sacred 'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present to you the Marauder's Map' slowly made its way across the paper.

"How did you…?" breathed George in absolute amazement, watching as Lupin skillfully scanned the map. Fred was watching just as intently, never breaking his gaze from Remus's face.

The teacher groaned as he saw two small dots labeled, 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans' moving across the hallway which was certainly not near Dumbledore's assigned rooms. Why did they always have to make the map tell the truth? He started to leave, still holding the map, when Fred grasped his arm tightly.

"How did you know?" he asked. "We never told anyone how to work that, except Harry. And I doubt he would have told you." Lupin glanced up at the Weasley boy's face, his brown eyes studying him.

He seemed to be thinking, almost debating. Finally, Lupin softly said, "Because I wrote it."

George's mouth dropped open. Professor Lupin was one of the Marauders? He must have been Moony, the pale one on the video… it made sense… Turning to Fred, he marveled, "Fred! Can you believe it?" But Fred wasn't there… or at least not standing up. George almost laughed when he realized his brother had fainted.

-

"What do we have first?" asked James, ducking behind every student, praying not to be noticed. So far, they hadn't, which was a miracle considering the Disillusionment charm had worn off about five minutes ago.

"I don't know!" shrieked Lily. "You've been asking me for the past ten minutes, and to be honest, I still have no idea. Are you sure Dumbledore didn't give us a map or something?"

"I'm very sure," James responded a bit guiltily. Lily hadn't heard that they were supposed to be in their rooms, and right now, he was doing a pretty good job of leading her astray. "Maybe we should just follow some student to their classes?"

Thankfully, no one was watching when Lily actually threw her hands up in desperation. "What kind of idea is that!?" she hissed in fury. James shrugged.

"The only one we have at the moment."

There were a few moments of silence. "That's true. Okay. How about that blonde girl up there?"

-

The room's air pressed heavily against James, who was fighting to stay awake. The perfume made him dizzy, and Professor Trelawny's voice was making him sway slightly…  
"James!" hissed Lily, poking him. "What are you doing?" At this, the Divination teacher lifted her gaze to the twosome, noticing them for the first time.

"Do we have some new students?" she asked, much to the relief of the Hufflepuff 6th years that Harry's future parents were attending class with.

"We've been trying to ask you about that for the past fifteen minutes!" protested Ernie impatiently.

"We're not really new-" James tried to say, but Trelawney's unblinking eyes scared him out of continuing further.

"Indeed..." Her large eyes settled on James's face, and she inhaled deeply, appearing to be shocked. "In all my years… look at this young man! We have a gifted Seer here. I can feel the power coursing through his veins, the predictions that he sees through horror-filled eyes… such strength! Tell me what you see, Mr.…?"

James held back a loud laugh. In his time, Trelawny had always called him 'a soul that has never seen.' It seemed that he was held higher in her opinion in the future. "Mr. … er… James. And… wait… I am seeing the haziest of visions…" He leaned toward the crystal ball in the middle of Lily and his shared table, peering closely. Why not have a little fun in Divination for a change? "I'm seeing… no! It can't be… but… could it? Could it possibly be… my stars… grass?"

Lily buried her head in her hands. How idiotic could James get? "Grass?" asked Professor Trelawny interestedly. "Is there anything more?"

"Oh!" cried James, as if having a revelation, "No, it's a meadow! It's a meadow of green… erm… green grass! And there's a beautiful, magnificent stag prancing through it…"

Some of the students looked extremely thrilled; hanging onto the boy's every word. James cleared his throat, thinking of something to say. Well, why not describe the Marauders?

"There's a big, black dog joining it… it looks extremely arrogant and I want to kick it, but I will refrain from doing so. Also, there's a wolf… it's pretty large and hungry. A rat's running around the three of them, looking for food…" he trailed off, hoping that this left a good impression on the teacher. She remained impassive, almost waiting for more.

"Oh… and… then… they… dance…?"

Roars of laughter were heard from the class, and Trelawny turned a lovely color of red.

"Since you do not take this class seriously, I would suggest you leave with your friend."

"Thanks! I've always wanted to do that!" said James, practically skipping. "Come on, Evans!" Her face was one of pure horror as she was led out of the Divination room. She had been asked to leave the room during class. Lily Evans! Things like that just didn't happen to her… they just didn't!

-

"We've eaten an entire box of Oreos, fell asleep at random intervals and then cooked up new ways to torture Snape. I don't think we're helping James and Lily at all," commented Remus, lying in front of the fire.

Sirius opened his mouth in mock outrage. "Of course we have! What about that plan when… oh, never mind." Remus rolled his eyes and went back to gazing in the fire. He supposed he could tell Madam Pomfrey he'd like to know more about lycanthropy and needed to get into the restricted section, but she probably wouldn't believe him. If you're a werewolf, you've already read a whole library full of books about it. Besides, they'd already been in the Restricted Section, although they did miss a lot and there was no way they were trying the Invisibility Cloak again.

Suddenly, the Sirius's eyes gleamed. "Hold on. I think I do have a plan…" and he revealed it to his fellow Marauders right then and there. Remus looked at him blankly.

"That is the stupidest thing you've ever come up with. I mean, ever. There's no way anyone's going to believe it…"

"But McGonagall might be so charmed by our act that she gives the pass to us anyway! Think on it, Moony!"

"Padfoot, I really don't know…"

"Well, at least that's a start. Right now, I'm tired… Oh, hey, Frank!"

The Prefect walked by, but when he saw the Marauder's, his eyes jolted wide. He started to back up, fell over the couch and tried to clamber back up.

Sighing, Remus stood up and gave his hand to the Longbottom. "I promise we don't have any of that stuff. We won't hurt you," assured Remus calmly.

"Yes, yes… sorry, I just got a bit carried away there. You know, after you turned me int-" began Frank, composing himself, but stopped abruptly when he heard a quack. Hurriedly, he went up to the dorm amidst Sirius's bark-like laughter.

"Sirius, why did you have to quack like that? You know he hates it!" moaned Remus in distress.

"Sorry, Moony, but it was just so funny…" Peter and Sirius erupted into laughs once again as the sane Marauder shook his head sadly.

_How in the world did I get stuck with that lunatic?_ he thought, going up the stairs to his bed.


	14. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

In the past...

"ARE YOU READY, MOONY?" shouted Sirius, jumping on top of a sleeping Remus. The boy attempted to swat Sirius away, but this only made him laugh harder and yell at the top of his lungs. "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE FUUUUNNN TODAY!!!"

"Go away," muttered Remus, turning into his pillow. He had been having a lovely sleep, and right now, didn't want to be disturbed.

"I CAN'T DO THAT, BECAUSE TODAY IS WHEN OUR PLAN GOES INTO EFFECT!!! WE DON'T HAVE A MOMENT TO LOOSE! GET UP, OR ELSE I'LL SING!!!" This woke Remus rather effectively, as he sat up quickly.

"No… please don't sing…" he found himself begging, as he swung his legs over the bed.

"If you insist," smiled Sirius evilly as he let out a high-pitched note. "SOME… WHERE OVER THE RAINBOWWWWW…."

Covering his ears, Remus ducked for safety and found Peter cowering against the wall. "What happened?" he whispered urgently, watching Sirius wail out Elton John's Your Song.

Peter whimpered slightly. "He was eating all those Sugar Quills… I told him not to, honest…" Remus shook his head slightly. Rule number two in Marauder's world: Never leave Sirius alone with Sugar Quills.

"AND YOU CAN TELL EEEEEVVVVVVVERYBODY THAT THIS IS YOUR SOOOOOOONNNNG…"

"At least sing a better Elton John song then that!" shouted Remus desperately, trying to calm Sirius down. At first, it appeared to work. Sirius went silent, pondering something.

At long last, he opened his mouth, perhaps to say something intelligent but all that came out was- "BUH BUH BUH BENNY AND THE JETSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!"

Remus let out a choked sob, running his hands through his hair. What was he going to do? Get dressed, that seemed like a good idea…

Making his way to the bathroom amidst Sirius's raucous singing, Remus found unexpected pleasure in shutting the door. Maybe he'd be getting some peace and quiet... best of all, maybe Sirius forgot about that stupid plan…

Turning on the tap, Remus surveyed his situation. After Sirius calmed down, everything would be fine, just fine… As he put some soap on his face, he felt himself smile as Sirius stopped singing. It was the blessed first sign that his insanity had subsided.

He reached out, in the usual spot, for his razor, and surprisingly, the space was empty. Frowning, Remus checked under the sink and above it, but found nothing. He didn't remember putting it anywhere different. Suddenly, a horrible thought came to him.

"SIRIUS!" he screamed, flinging open the bathroom door. The accused boy sat innocently on the bed, that scheming 6th year… "What did you do with my razor?"

"Well, according to my plan of action stated yesterday at exactly 1:32 A.M, you had to grow a beard, while I had to wear panty hose, lipstick and a dress. Eye shadow's optional."

"I don't recall agreeing to this."

"Hmm. Odd. Well, it's for the better anyway, Peter's already found his doctor's outfit. I got Maggie to give me some tights and the other stuff… so now it's all your part of the bargain."

"I don't want to grow a beard!" he protested hotly.

"That's out of my control," Sirius sighed. "You're already looking a bit scruffy, and obviously, you don't have a razor in hand. Looks like you're stuck there, mate. Besides, you're the only one who could grow one on such short notice, being a werewolf and all. Yes, we figured out that you grow one faster because of your 'condition,' or whatever."

"That's blackmail," muttered Remus, sitting down.

"Maybe," shrugged Sirius, plopping down beside him. "But it's for the greater good- getting back James and Lily."

Remus couldn't believe he was doing this… he absolutely couldn't… "Let's review this plan again… you're a woman, I'm your husband, and Peter is a doctor. Somehow, this is going to get us into the Restricted Section in the library."

"Yep," agreed Sirius happily, stuffing all his needed accessories into his bag. "We'll put it into action at Transfiguration."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," muttered Remus, shaking some clean robes out of his trunk.

"I can!" Sirius trilled, clicking his heels in the air as he danced lightly out of the dorm room.

-

"So. What are we going to do?" asked James, lounging against a wall. The halls were deserted, due to the fact that classes were in session.

Lily moaned, covering her face with her hand. "I can't believe this… I can't believe this… we got kicked out of class! Mom's going to have a fit."

"Hey, look on the bright side. Your mum might be dead," commented James, cleaning his fingernails idly.

With a fierce glare, Lily shot up and towered over James, fury rising in her. "THAT. IS. NOT. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE," she snarled, eyes crackling dangerously.

James laughed lightly and began to run down the halls. "Aw, poor little Evans and her mum…" Lily couldn't help it; she dashed after the teasing Potter. After all, it was anger making her do this… right?

She stopped paying attention to where she was going, but only to find James. She could have sworn she saw his robes snap around that corridor. Oh, when she found him, he was going to be in big trouble.

It felt as if an icy bucket of water had been poured down her back. Gaping, Lily whirled around to see what it was. There, in front of her, stood Nearly Headless Nick.

"Good day, Madame, I…" the ghost began, but then trailed off. "Good Lord… is that…?"

Lily closed her mouth, trying to be polite. "Hello, Sir Nicholas. Have you seen-"

Abruptly, a sharp tug pulled her behind a wall. "What do you think you're doing?" hissed Ron, looking at Lily urgently.

"I was just… wait. What are you doing here?" she demanded, turning the tables. Ron stared at Lily as though she were mad.

"Classes ended about a minute ago," he stated.

"Oh, excellent," she murmured. "Now I'm going to have to round up James and get him into Defense without killing anyone. Or at least, that's what I think Hannah said was next…"

"Erm…" Ron appeared rather nervous. "You do know that Snape teaches Defense… right?"

Lily felt her jaw drop. "Snape? As in Snivellus… I mean, Severus Snape?" Ron nodded, a large grin spreading across his face.

"I hope James does something really wicked… Oh, there's Harry. I don't want him to see you…"

Lily frowned slightly, gazing at the black haired boy. "Why not?"

The boy opened his mouth as if to say more, when Hermione brushed by. "Hello Lily… Ron, I told you not to say anything! By the way, why aren't you in your rooms? I think I heard Professor Lupin mention something about that. I might be mistaken though. Oh, Lily, and I just saw James running down the hall. You might want to catch him," she explained hurriedly, clutching her books tightly. "Come on, Ron," she muttered, gritting her teeth as she led the guilty Weasley away.

_What was that all about? _Lily thought, furrowing her brows. _Well, if anyone can solve this, it'd be me. But for now, we need to get to Defense… oh, where are you James?_

A rat scurried around her feet, and then quickly dashed into a hole in the wall. Lily sighed. Now, she also had rats to worry about as well as James. Turning the opposite direction, Lily set off in a jog to find Potter.

-

Lupin glanced up from the parchment he was writing on. The Weasley twins were still here. They'd been there since the morning and still waited eagerly after he'd washed up, taken a nap and finished several letters.

"Do you need anything?" Lupin asked lightly, gazing fixatedly at them. Fred shrugged.

"We just wanted to observe a Marauder in its natural habitat. Don't mind us, really." Sighing, Lupin went back to finishing his letter. He felt a little nervous though, having those boys watching your every move. Five minutes later, and the silence was still unperturbed. Something was going on…

Lupin stood up quickly, only narrowly avoiding a large display of fireworks exploding where he once sat. Fred and George looked rather impressed.

"Those were our new stock… supposed to be undetectable. You're the first to actually avoid it before it went," commented George, folding his arms.

"Well, he is a Marauder," said Fred.

Lupin didn't want to know who they tested it on and how many people. "I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore has something that you could do," Lupin suggested. "Why don't you go to him?"

The twins shrugged. "No, we like it here," George decided, leaning against the wall.

"Then I think I'll drop by Professor Snape's class. You know, just to see what the class is learning before I teach?" Lupin hoped they would get the hint, but instead, the twins just jumped up eagerly.

"Brilliant! We'll come along!" cried Fred excitedly.

Lupin sighed again and let out a soft groan. It was going to be a long day.

-

A little girl licking her ice cream sat on the bench. _Great,_ he thought, slowly sitting down beside her. _Just my idea of a partner._

The girl looked at him suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked, innocently swinging her legs. The man snorted, slinging his arm over the headrest of the bench.

"I'm an escaped prisoner that wants to kill everyone whom I meet, including you and your stupid ice cream, or at least according to the papers." The girl stopped licking and stared at him for a moment.

"Yeah, like you understood a word of that. Listen; do you know where we are?"

The girl nodded happily. "We live in the world. Mommy taught me that."

The man let out a grunt of annoyance. "No, I mean more specific! Like, you know, five-miles-down-the-road-from-Hogwarts-school-even-though-you're-a-stupid-Muggle-and-doesn't-know-what-the-hell-magic-is." The man was interrupted from his rant when a prim looking woman tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir. You may be homeless, but that is no way to talk to a young lady," she sniffed, wiping her fingers after touching the man.

Fire flared in his eyes. "I'm not homeless, for your information, I live in 12 Grimmauld place. Or at least I used to before I died."

The woman looked absolutely repulsed. "Oh, you escaped from the insane asylum. I'd better call the police."

"Hey! I've been called mentally challenged by a few of my closest friends, but insane asylum is taking it kind of far, don't you think?" he said, facing her indignantly.

The conversation had reached the ears of others, who glanced over worriedly. One woman's eyes opened in shock. "That's the murderer on T.V.! The one that escaped!" she shrieked, backing away. "Someone, call the police!"

The girl could have sworn the murderer had whispered, "I knew I should have come as a dog," before turning to her. He smiled rather amusedly, making a bow. "Well, I guess that's my cue. Remember me… the evil murderer Sirius Black." He wiggled his fingers to make a point, and the girl couldn't help but giggle. He dashed away toward the woods, laughing loudly while the others shouted in panic.

Sirius cut through the leaves and bushes, still laughing faintly. It was sort of funny to see everyone scream in fright of him. When he got back to Hogwarts, or to Grimmauld place, or wherever he was destined to go, he'd write a book. How To Fall Into A Mysterious Veil, Come Back Out, And Convince All Your Friends That You're Still Alive While Avoiding Muggles Who Think You're A Heartless Murderer by Sirius Black. Yes, it had a very nice ring to it. He'd probably get Remus to write the book though; he'd always failed miserably at writing.

And Sirius kept running, thinking of how his book would be on the bestsellers list.

-

"Ron! Watch where you're aiming that!" Harry shouted, narrowly avoiding a jet of red light. The red head shook his head, as if to clear his mind.

"Sorry, mate," he mumbled, turning a shade of red as he held out his wand again. If this had happened once, Harry would have thought it was just carelessness. But this was about the fifteenth time. He thought Ron would have been excited that Snape was leaving soon. But Ron was acting so weird lately... and it wasn't just him. He couldn't help but notice Hermione's eyes floating near the door frequently, as if she wanted out. Something was going on.

Lupin stepped by, watching students aim the Reducto curse at their hovering pillow, some successfully knocking it out of the air. Snape watched on in intense dislike. "Try to point the spell a little more to the right, Neville," he advised, watching the Longbottom almost hit Lavender Brown. "You don't want Miss Brown to step in the way of that." Neville smiled as he tried again, this time striking the intended target.

"Thanks, Professor Lupin," he said. "And I'm really glad you're back." Lupin could see from the genuine grin on his face that he was.

Giving him a kind smile in return, Lupin said, "I am too. Now, remember- to the right."

Neville gave him a nod, and Lupin strode on, looking over the students. Yes, he was glad to be back. More incredibly, he would actually be teaching James and Lily… The thought almost made him laugh.

"Watch out, Professor!" someone yelled, and Lupin instinctively stepped to the side. It turns out, not a moment to soon, for a Reducto curse sailed past seconds after. Everyone shifted around to see who shot this stray spell... but found only Hermione.

She looked extremely alarmed, voice rising to a high pitch. "I'm sorry, Professor Lupin, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I was just thinking about what they were going to do, they don't know anything, and I was just worried…" She trailed off, her gaze avoiding Lupin's.

He sighed, rubbing his temples as he thought. _So, that's what's wrong. Hermione is worried about Lily and James._

Finally, Lupin said quietly, "They'll be fine, Hermione. I'm sure they're finding something to do in their rooms. But, before we proceed with the lesson, I am going to have to give you a couple lessons in aiming correctly with a wand." Fred and George, who watched this in the corner of the room, sniggered, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Lupin wasn't mad, he understood. Well, of course he would, he always did. Why had she even doubted? Wait. Did Lupin say something about them staying in their rooms?

But before she could ask, Harry had come over. "Are you alright?"

"Oh," Hermione said, inwardly wincing. "Yes. I'm just fine. Umm… Will you practice the Reducto curse with me? You really do need the practice."

Harry nodded, following his friend suspiciously. Something was going on. Why weren't Ron and Hermione telling him anything?

Hermione lightly swished her wand, trying to look relaxed, but failed miserably. Harry couldn't take it anymore; he had to ask. "Hermione," he said slowly, standing in front of her line of vision. She had no choice but to listen to him. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she replied, attempting to peer over his shoulder at her pillow. "Honestly, why would there be something wrong?"

"You're keeping something from me," he stated, not moving. Hermione bit her lip. "Why can't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Harry!" she burst out, distraught. "It's just not safe for you to know!"

"Why not?"

"I can't!" she cried, beginning to sob a little. "I would be angry too, but we just can't tell you…"

Harry was reminded forcibly of the summer he spent in Grimmauld place. "I thought we were friends! I thought you could tell me everything!" he shouted, eyes crackling very much like Lily's.

"We are…" began Hermione, but Harry cut her off with a look.

"I thought you would understand," he said disbelievingly, shaking his head slightly. Hermione, feeling guilt trodden, started to say something, but Harry wasn't listening. No, he was ignoring her.

Sighing, she positioned her wand and did a perfect Reducto spell. Harry wasn't speaking to her; she had James and Lily on her hands, and couldn't say a word of it to Harry. What did her father used to say when she was so worried? Oh, yes, now she remembered. "Always look on the bright side of life, Hermione," he'd smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's always a bright side."

Grinning slightly to herself, she whispered, "Always look on the bright side of life," effectively calming her nerves. Maybe there was a bright side… if she looked hard enough to find it.


	15. Remmie Dear

"Transfiguration's next, Moony. Meet me at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in a minute," whispered Sirius as he hurried ahead of Remus, completely ignoring the suit of armor in front of him and toppling it over quite ungracefully.

Remus shook his head, thinking, _What's with the secrecy?_ but sighed and nevertheless waited a minute before following the passage to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He gave up fathoming the way Sirius's mind worked a long time ago. Pushing the bathroom door open, Remus peered inside to see Sirius leaning against one of the toilets, flirting with Myrtle. Why Sirius had the urge to associate with every member of the opposite sex he set eyes on, Remus would never know.

Peter was already situated in the corner, wearing a green surgeon's cap and coat. Latex gloves fit his hands snugly; his fingers drumming incessantly on the floor. Well, it looked like he was ready for Transfiguration.

"Moony! You're here!" cried Sirius, noticing him for the first time. Jumping over, he began whispering in undertones while stuffing his hand down his bag. "Now, put this on, hurry, we only have five minutes…" Sirius tossed a few things out of his bag, amounting to a rather nice set of wizard's robes, a pair of shoes made for work, and a tie.

Remus looked at his friend, eyebrow raised. "I hate it when you do that," Sirius informed him.

"Well, that's not affecting me in the slightest right now. Why are you giving this to me?"

"Oh, come on, Moony. You need clothes that a… hard-working husband would wear." He smiled hopefully, and then let his eyes droop sadly. "Please? For James and Lily?"

Remus sighed, and then picked up the clothes carefully. "Alright, fine. But you owe me one, Padfoot."

Sirius clapped his hands happily, shuttering Remus into a stall with the clothes. "Get dressed then! We don't have all day!"

Remus thought it imperative to tell Sirius that he himself wasn't dressed in his outfit yet, but decided against it. A loud bang echoed through the stall when Remus shook out the clothes, as if to get rid of the dust. At first, he was positive he'd broken something; but looking on closer inspection, it was a book. The title was worn off and the old leather covering the brittle pages creaked when he opened the book. Placing it carefully atop the top of the toilet, Remus turned toward his main priority- the clothes.

After slipping on all the required things, he looked down for inspection. Well, he supposed it wasn't that bad. Stroking his chin subconsciously, he found he couldn't really get used to having stubble. Curse Sirius and his ideas.

When he got out, Peter was still sitting where he was previously, twiddling his thumbs. But where was Sirius…?

The missing Marauder burst out, glowing with happiness, though Remus could see no reason why. He wore a low cut pink dress that would have revealed plenty of cleavage had he been a girl, but only exposed a rather hairy chest on Sirius. The dress came to about his knees, with pantyhose underneath. Well, at least he spared them all the horror of hairy legs, if not hairy chest. With a similarly colored handbag and heels, Sirius seemed ready to go.

Remus felt like retching in horror and laughing uproariously at the outfit, but managed to keep both emotions in check. "Let's just get this over with," Remus said, resigned to his fate. Stumbling in the heels, Sirius caught up with him before gasping terribly.

"What is it?" Remus asked, genuinely concerned. Normally, Sirius was so… unserious. No pun intended. Nothing could get a rise out of him.

Sirius gasped a couple of sounds, looking terrified. "My… I… I… forgot…"

"Go on," urged Remus.

"MY LIPSTICK!" Sirius wailed, bee-lining to the sinks. A disgusted looking Myrtle pulled away, as far away from Sirius as she could. Floating over to Remus, she whispered in low, scandalized monotones,

"You really should make sure he doesn't have some fatal disease," she said, watching in distaste as Sirius smeared a bright red shade on his puckered lips.

Remus shook his head slightly, muttering back, "He does. It's called stupidity."

"I heard that!" shouted Sirius, cramming the tube back into his borrowed purse as he clopped over to his friend.

"You forgot this," Remus reminded him, sticking the book out towards Sirius. The boy gave a grimace of distaste as he stuffed it into his now empty bag.

"Well, I'm glad you found my missing birthday present from dear Aunt Druella," he said, trying to keep up with Remus's strides in the heels. "A book of dark magic… honestly. You'd think my family would realize that I just don't like that sort of stuff. Apparently, they don't."

The two stopped at the exit of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, eyeing each other. Finally, Sirius broke the silence. "Are you… going?"

"We're going to be laughed out of Hogwarts."

"It's happened."

"I don't enjoy making a complete fool of myself."

"I do."

"We might be deemed insane if we go out there."

"And rightly so."

"How come I can never win an argument with you?"

"The things you think are stupid are completely normal to me."

"Good point."

Opening the door slowly, Remus took a breath. _Well… it's now or never. This is for James and Lily… James and Lily…_ he reminded himself as he stepped out into the bustling corridor.

-

Severus Snape sat behind his desk, watching the door in silence. A double Defense with 6th year Hufflepuff and Slytherin was the next class, so this ought to be interesting. Lupin had finally left, and it seemed he was set for the rest of the day.

He always liked to guess who would be the first to arrive. Ernie MacMillian? Draco Malfoy? Vincent Goyle?

But who entered the room first caught Snape completely off guard. It wasn't someone he expected to see; or see ever again.

It was James Potter.

The boy plopped himself down on a seat and turned to greet Snape. "Snivelly," he said, grinning widely. "Boy, you haven't changed a bit. I really like the robes. They're so…"

"Black?" offered Snape coldly, staring at James straight in the eye.

"How'd you know?" James gasped, acting amazed. If he was uncomfortable with Snape's stares, he didn't show it. "Nice place you've got," he commented, gazing at the dark Defense room. "I mean, just the kind of place I'd like to live in."

Snape scowled and nearly broke the quill resting in his hand. "Thank you," he replied with gritted teeth.

"Oh, you're welcome. Say, are you married?"

Snape shook his head.

"Good. Someone would have to be crazy to tie the knot with you. How come Sirius, Remus, Peter and I haven't blown you up yet?"

He couldn't take it anymore. Snape stood up quickly, knocking over his ink bottle. "You're friends are dirt," he hissed, eyes hard. "Black was an immature fool, Lupin is nothing but a bloodthirsty monster and Peter's a worthless slab of scum."

James didn't notice the past tense on Sirius's insult. "Ha, you've gotten creative! I'm glad to see that. Normally, you'd just name us all together. 'Filthy fools, blasted idiots…' These are much more entertaining to listen to."

Snape was glad to see Justin Flinch-Fletchey walk in. Finally, Potter would have to sit down and stop annoying him.

"I don't have to sit down and stop annoying you," sang James, high-toned. Snape groaned and covered his face with his hands. He didn't know if he could stand it much longer. If only Snape knew how bad things were going to get…

-

In the past...

It was a strange sight, to say the least. Remus Lupin, the tallest, strode in the middle, appeared to be attempting to grow a beard. Sirius Black, on his right, wore a bright pink dress that looked to be a size too small. Flesh colored pantyhose covered his legs, while his long dark hair almost looked... styled. Peter Pettigrew shuffled to Remus's left, wearing a doctor's outfit complete with an operating mask.

A boy with dark brown hair whistled as Sirius passed by. "Oy, Siria!" he called, jokingly. "You're looking better than you did this morning!"

Remus looked at Sirius, who grinned mischievously. "No… No, Padfoot, don't…" he moaned, but it was too late. Sirius had taken out his matching pink handbag and swung it around with all his strength. The bag hit Patil's face with a satisfying thud, and the boy fell to the floor, surprised.

"That's why you never mess with a lady, Patil," smirked Sirius, dusting off his hands casually before striding away rather skillfully in the heels.

"He's going to carry a grudge against you the rest of his life, Sirius," Remus commented, stopping to let Sirius catch up. The boy shrugged.

"I'll deal with it," he said.

Too soon they reached the door to Transfiguration. Peter began to squirm and Remus glanced around apprehensively.

"Are you men or not?" Sirius asked. "Be courageous, my fellow Marauders!"

"Since when did he become a war general?" muttered Peter. Remus shrugged lightly.

"Whatever lies beyond the opposite side, we shall not cower in fear! If our enemies have bayonets pointed at our chests, do not tremble! We are the Marauders! They should dread us! When we enter the room, it is they who shall shrink in fear! We are valiant of heart, and if we die, we die MEN!" At this last statement, Sirius flung open the door and with something vaguely resembling an Indian war cry, hurtled into the room.

Peter bit his lips and looked at Remus, whose gentle mouth was struggling to contain a smile. "If you can't beat them, Peter, join them," he said, grinning widely. Letting out a wild scream that sounded uncannily like an Indian's, Remus dashed into the Transfiguration room, arms high in the air.

Minerva McGonagall must be hearing things. Glancing up, she realized she wasn't. There was Sirius Black, mischief maker extraordinaire, screaming at the top of his lungs. She wouldn't settle for this… not in her classroom.

Now Black's voice was joined with a hoarser one as Remus Lupin propelled himself into the room. She thought Remus had always been the calmer one… well, apparently not.

"Mr. Black! Mr. Lupin!" McGonagall demanded, watching as the two approached her desk. Suddenly her eyebrows furrowed. "Mr. Black… are you wearing… a dress?" She could barely disguise her astonishment as she took in the styled hair, the lipstick, handbag and pantyhose… not to mention the high heels.

Sirius giggled in an unusually high voice. "Oh, Minnie," he began, blushing. "It's so good to see you! Remmie and I-"

Remus's eyebrows shot up so high, they could have reached his hairline. He shook his head violently, making his rather shaggy light brown hair fall into his eyes.

"Yes, _Remmie_," Sirius accentuated, making Remus sigh and roll his eyes. "Anyway, dear Remmie and I have so busy lately, we haven't the chance to come see you sweet old dear. I mean, just gotten married and all that… right, Remmie dear?"

Remus looked pointedly at Sirius before whispering out of the corner of his mouth, "I think we should have rehearsed this."

Sirius shrugged. "Just wing it," he advised in his normal voice, and then changed back into the high pitched one. "Right, Remmie dear?"

Remus nodded his approval.

"So, how long have Mr. and Mrs. Lupin been married?" McGonagall asked, deciding to play with the boys. The two gave each other a discreet glance before Sirius burst out,

"Two years."

"A year," said Remus at the same time. Once again they looked at one another, and Remus shook his head lightly. He'd do the talking from now on.

"A year and a half, actually. Poor Siria tends to forget things. Anyway, we ran into a doctor while we were in London on our… erm… honeymoon... and he needs some information."

Peter wriggled a little bit, sweating inside his latex gloves. McGonagall took this all in, watching a solemn looking Remus, a cheery looking Sirius and a nervous looking Peter. What could they want…?

"On what, pray tell?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Stuff in the Restricted Section," blurted out Sirius before Remus elbowed him.

"Be more subtle," he hissed.

"I think I should take this up with Dumbledore… would you three follow me?" McGonagall said slowly, standing up.

The three boys shuffled behind her as she left the room, but before exiting, Sirius blew a kiss to the class and kicked up his panty-hosed foot. "What? My fans love me," he explained as all the people looked at him oddly.

As they approached the entryway to Dumbledore's office, Remus found one last hope. Maybe, just maybe, Dumbledore would understand. He clung onto this hope as he and his fellow Marauders climbed the stairs… _One step… two step…_ He would understand… Remus knew he would…

Dumbledore sat in his office, thinking. James and Lily had been gone for almost a day now- and Filius Flitwick had found nothing on the charm in his books. Should he send letters to the parents of the two missing students? Or wait a bit longer? He was interrupted by an abrupt knocking at the door, and Minerva McGonagall appeared at his door, three boys in tow behind her.

"Albus, I will have you know that these three boys came into class hollering like Indians, while one was wearing a dress and the other a doctor's uniform. They were trying to get into the Restricted Section of the library for some reason, I believe," McGonagall stated stiffly, giving a glare at the three boys.

Dumbledore looked over his half moon spectacles, obviously amused. "It appears they were indeed, desperately after something in the library to go to such extreme measures. Perhaps this has something to do with the disappearance of Mr. Potter and Miss Evans yesterday…?"

"We want to figure out how to get them back," said Sirius hotly. "No one else seems to be doing a damn thing, and-"

"Watch your language," McGonagall reprimanded, watching Sirius sternly.

"I mean, what if they never come back? James is like a brother to me, Remus and Peter. We need to get them both back. No matter what." Sirius sat down then, as if that was all he had to say on the matter.

McGonagall glanced to Dumbledore, who was staring at Sirius with a pondering expression on his face. Finally, the Headmaster said, "I think we can arrange to have Messrs. Black, Lupin and Pettigrew visit the Restricted Section, yes?"

The Transfiguration teacher looked flustered. "I suppose… if you want… but…"

"Brilliant!" Sirius cheered as Dumbledore handed him the slip. "Come on, we don't have a moment to loose!" He dashed out of the office madly, followed closely by Peter, who slammed the door loudly and nearly knocked over Fawke's cage. Remus went at a more mannerly pace, but really only because he was in the presence of teachers.

"Would you hold on a minute, Mr. Lupin?" called Dumbledore, and the boy stopped and came back to the desk.

"Yes, Professor?" he asked, a bit apprehensive.

Dumbledore smiled. "You look rather distinguished with that beard of yours," he said, blue eyes twinkling. Remus blushed and quickly walked out of the room, wondering if Dumbledore was just joking on account of his own beard or he really meant it.

McGonagall turned toward Dumbledore, puzzled. "Why did you give them permission, Albus? They barged into my classroom, disrupted it, and expected to receive allowance to go to the library!"

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and said, "But they did it for a friend. They risked their dignity, their time and detention-free afternoons to help James and Lily. They have loyalty to each other, strong and deep, but I doubt they even realize it. They're friends, Minerva- true and faithful friends.

"So that is why I gave them the pass. Although, I'm sure, you are thinking right now that Professor Flitwick is researching all he can and has found nothing, how can these boys discover anything? Well, they have determination, Minerva. They will look however hard and long to find an answer. And…"

"What?" McGonagall asked, growing curious.

"I think we could find no better candidates for the Order."


	16. An Idea

James couldn't stop grinning. Here he was, in Snivelly's classroom- without Lily to control him. She was probably still looking for him all around the corridors…

"Hey." A blonde haired boy leaned over to James, eyeing Snape carefully as not to get caught. "You're that kid that got kicked out of Divination, right?"

James nodded. "I thought so," the kid said. "You know, you might think I'm kind of weird, but you look a lot like…"

"Mr. Flinch-Fletchley… do you have something you'd like to share with the class?" Snape asked, whirling around and stopping his lecture on how nonverbal spells could save your life.

The Hufflepuff looked down and muttered something incoherent, then sat back in his seat.

"Thank you. Now, you must concentrate on the incantation- don't just _think_ it, _feel_ it…"

James yawned. Boring, boring, boring. He had been expecting Snivellus to at least shoot an insult at him somewhere along the line- looks like he even stopped being rebellious. Well, he'd fix that. He'd get old Snivelly into such a rage, his head would fly off. Or so James hoped.

Sliding his wand out of his pocket, James thought of ideas to torture Snape. How about washing his filthy mouth out- no, he used that in his fifth year. Or making him skip the entire day? No, he'd used that a week ago. James really was running out of ideas.

Then, he thought of it. The most brilliant idea yet. He checked his pockets quickly. Yes, they were there. He began to chuckle to himself, not quite believing he was going to do it. The two pranks had never been combined before… Oh, well. They'd see soon enough what would happen.

Snape turned around to his desk, still giving instructions. James took out the two items and waited patiently until the time was right…

Snape was turning around to face the class… there couldn't have been a better moment… James threw both of the items and watched eagerly, waiting to see what would happen…

Everyone stared in shock as their Potions master looked in horror at what had happened to him. Instead of his black robes, he was wearing something resembling a Vegas showgirl's outfit… complete with feathers and purple sequins.

"POTTER!" he roared, completely forgetting James's pretend last name, but no one noticed. They were too busy falling over in laughter. The scowl so prominent over Snape's face suddenly disappeared, and an oddly blank look came over his face. That's when the students completely burst- the moment Snape started chirping like a bird.

James shouted above the roar and Snape's chirping, "This is what happens when you combine Moony's Not Yet Perfected Prank- well, it's perfected now, but whatever- and Padfoot's new prank thing! The preplanned outfit is inside, complete with the permanent sticking charm on the inner lining! Only three Galleons each!"

Students kept laughing as Snape's chirping dissolved into barks. James smiled at the chaos he had ensued. He loved his job.

Everyone stopped laughing the moment the door opened. The only sound that could be heard was Snape's loud barks, as he jumped on the desk and squatted, vaguely resembling a dog on its haunches.

Lupin stepped in, looking a bit perturbed. "Is Professor Snape here? I have some papers that were supposed to get to him-" A sudden ruff cut him off short as he looked up at Snape. Snape in the purple sequined show girl dress, with large feathers in the back, squatting on his desk- was that really Severus Snape?

All the students watched Lupin for a reaction. His face was impassive, just the faint look of surprise in his eyes. Finally, the corners of his mouth twitched a little- and started to chuckle.

That was the signal for everyone to start laughing uproariously, which they all did. Especially James. He'd gotten the older Moony to laugh- something he probably hadn't done in the past billion years! Score one for Potter- Snape- zero.

The loud barks changed into a distinguished squawking sounds as Snape began flapping his arms and running crazily across the desk. Another wave of laughter swept through the room. Lupin was shaking his head, but he still hadn't stopped smiling. Yes, this was James's greatest prank yet.

Lily burst through the door, only to stop and watch in shock as Snape flapped his way across his desk, making odd squawking sounds. She turned to James, eyes furious. "Couldn't you stay out of trouble for at least one minute?" she yelled, stomping her foot. At least Lupin had decided to do something and was trying to help Snape off the desk, but failing miserably. Snape had just begun bouncing up and down, mimicking a kangaroo, and completely ignored Lupin.

"Apparently I can't," said James, grinning widely. "Apparently I can't."

-

Peter Pettigrew couldn't believe it. Here he was, at Hogwarts, trying to spy on Dumbledore and Harry Potter. At first, he cowered in the corners as Wormtail, just praying no one would realize it was poor, dead Peter Pettigrew. Eventually, he discovered that no one paid attention to the rat scampering close to the wall. Good.

In order for Potter not to see him on the map, he'd hide in the Forbidden Forest mainly after dinner, till morning. His plan was flawless.

But so far, he'd found out nothing for Voldemort. Well, until she ran by. The girl that looked like Lily. Was it really her? Could it be?

No. Lily was dead.

But then again, he had been declared deceased too.

Well, he couldn't just keep running around her feet, could he? Peter ran into a hole in the wall, mind racing. She had looked at him as he fled, with those electric green eyes. There was no mistaking them. Lily Potter was at Hogwarts, somehow.

He should tell Voldemort right away… but what would it hurt, just to check it out? Maybe it was another girl that just happened to look like Lily.

In his heart, Peter knew it was impossible. But he had to find out why. Sitting down in the small area, Peter began to plan.

-

Sirius Black ran until his sides ached and his body forced him to stop. Leaning against a nearby tree, he panted, trying to catch his breath. Well, those people weren't chasing him anymore- that was good.

He looked around the area, trying to decide where he was. Most likely a restaurant- he could hear the strains of music coming from the building. An Elton John song... oh, what was it called? It had been a while since he'd heard it.

Now he remembered. Bennie and the Jets… that song always reminded him of the time in his 6th year, when James had been gone.

He remembered tearing through the library, looking for the book… and how a scruffy looking Remus had to lead him to a chair and make his sleep deprived self catch a rest. He remembered looking through a book for the spell… what was the spell?

What was the book?

Why didn't he remember?

Sirius frowned, trying to recall anything. But the only thing that came to mind was… nothing.

He would have tried to puzzle it out further if a couple hadn't walked by, laughing loudly. He'd have to run again…

Sighing, Sirius began to sprint again, off to wherever he was bound to go. Only this time, one could hear him, unlike his last, silent, journey.

He was singing.

And, I regret to say, singing as badly as he did when he was 16.

-

Good. Finally, the Snape-as-an-animal fiasco had been sorted out and Lupin was back in his room. Now was the time to deal with Fred and George. He was going to get them out of here if it were the last thing he did.

"Fred, George-"

"How may I be of service, Mr. Moony?" asked George, pretending to bow.

"Your mighty Marauderness?" Fred proclaimed, flourishing his arms.

Oh God. This might be harder than it looked.

"I'm very touched that you admire my friends and I… but what we were the Marauders a very long time ago. And I have classes to be watching."

"Professor, we're not leaving," said Fred. "You have so much to teach us! Like how'd you turn in the Slytherin common room into a swimming pool?"

"And turn McGonagall's hair red," reminded George.

Lupin sighed tiredly and massaged his temples. He was regretting James ever showed that video to the Great Hall.

Finally, he thought of something. Yes, it wasn't the best idea… in the matter of fact; he knew he was going to regret it. But right now, he needed them to leave for the sake of his sanity.

"Do you know how Madam Pince has always had a bit of a… phobia about dogs?" he asked, watching the twins. They nodded, looking eager.

"I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you a story about an encounter she had with one. Well, a certain dog called Snuffles, but she wouldn't know that."

Fred and George's grins widened even further, if possible. In addition to Remus having to explain that he was indeed, Moony, he confessed that Sirius, James and Peter were also the part of the group dubbed the Marauders. So they knew exactly what he was talking about.

In an instant, they were gone. And Lupin silently prayed for Hogwarts as he went back to his paperwork.

-

"It's not here," Sirius yelled, slamming the hundredth dusty book they'd pored over onto the table. He was incredibly tired… but he had to keep working. He had to find the spell James used.

Remus sighed and closed his worn out eyes as Sirius dove ferociously into the books. This was sounding strangely reminiscent of when they were in Charms…

"We've still got a lot of books to look over," Peter reminded him. "It could be in there." But Sirius just grunted in annoyance and tossed more books out of their rightful shelves.

"I'm hungry," announced Peter, standing up. "Do you have any food?"

Sirius glared at him, eyes narrowed. "We're looking for James's charm right now, not food. Food! Food! Who can think of food in a time like this…? Is he mad? James is lost and you're looking for food! Well, I'll tell you something, food isn't important, we have to keep reading, we have to keep reading... just keep reading and reading and reading…" Sirius's unusually fast spoken speech was slowing down almost alarmingly as began to sway back and forth, repeating the same sentence over and over.

Remus knew Sirius couldn't handle a night without sleep. He had to crash sometime.

"Come on, Sirius, sit down over here. I'll look for the Charms book," he encouraged him, leading the almost delusional Marauder toward his seat. Sirius mumbled incoherently as he slipped into the chair and his eyes closed shut.

Well, that took care of one thing. Sighing, Remus turned around, only to see Peter digging through Sirius's bag.

"Hey, isn't this that book James always used to read? Well, to get Sirius angry… you remember," Peter said waving the book Remus had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Actually, now that Peter mentioned it, Remus had seen James reading it a couple of times. More for mocking Sirius and his lovely book than for real reading, Remus had to add.

Why had he forgotten that…? Oh. Most likely because the day this was happening, he had been suffering from headaches and before transformation distraction. Suddenly, it hit him.

James had read this book.

This was a book of Charms.

Hadn't James used a charm to make Lily and himself disappear?

Remus was looking at the book in a whole new light.

-

Lily decided that she couldn't stand James. Here she was, leaving him alone for one minute, and he'd already gotten in trouble. It was like having a two year old on the loose. From that moment on, their shoulders were nearly glued together. There was no way she was letting him out of her sight. But unfortunately, as James stayed within sight, the 6th year Hufflepuffs soon strayed out.

Predictably, James didn't seem too worried. "Aww, Lily," he said, "get over it! Let's go visit Moony in his office. Kind of a drag that he wasn't in Defense, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was, because Remus would be a good teacher- unlike you would," she shot back, unable to stop herself. James let his eyes droop sadly, looking a bit like Sirius.

"Do you really think I'd be that bad?" he asked, sounding offended.

Lily probably would have answered yes if they hadn't reached the door to Defense Against the Dark Arts. She turned around on James, eyes narrowed. "If you blow up Remus or anyone else, I'll…"

"I wouldn't blow up Remus!" protested James. "I'll be on my best behavior. I promise- for Moony." Lily sighed, and pushed open the door, praying James would live up to that. Well, she could dream, couldn't she?

Lupin was at the front of the room, looking over some papers. Well, Lily guessed this meant that Snape was back to normal. Otherwise, he would still be attempting to help a certain teacher return to the ordinary.

So they were the first ones there… good. Running through the hallways did help get them there faster.

Lupin looked up and smiled at the two. Lily had noticed that his eyes always seemed a bit sorrowful, the premature lines on his face and the gray hairs already mixing in with his brown, and couldn't help but wonder, what happened? She didn't say a word, though. She'd leave that until later. Something was wrong here, in the future…

"Hey, Professor Moony!" greeted James, smiling widely as he slapped his hands down on the shoulders of Lupin, interrupting Lily from her thoughts. The professor winced, but Lily wasn't sure if it was at the pressure of James's hands or the nickname.

"Please, refer to me as Professor Lupin during the lesson, James," he contradicted quietly, but then grinned. "Call me whatever you like after that."

"Will do," James agreed, and sat down in a seat. "Wait, you're teaching? Why didn't you teach for our lesson?"

Giving a small grin, Lupin replied, "Professor Snape preferred I stay out of his way for the reminder of his class time, but after the unfortunate incident that happened last period, he was more than happy to leave the teaching to me. And why are you back in this classroom? Of course, I'm not even going to mention the fact that you are not in the rooms Dumbledore assigned you-"

Lily didn't even want to know what Dumbledore said, since she figured this was the time to ask a question. "Remus," she asked, trying to seem as casual as possible, "who's Harry Potter?"

Lupin's head snapped up. His gaze seemed extremely scrutinizing as they looked at her face, as if trying to see something."Why do you ask?"

Lily took a breath. She was going to have to tell him sometime. "Because, when I was speaking with Ron, he'd just mentioned…"

The future Lupin nodded his head, as if encouraging her to go on. His dark brown eyes stared directly into hers, just as his younger self had always done. For some reason, this gave her a bit of reassurance. She wasn't sure if what she was about to say was wise, but she was going to ask it anyway.

"Why-"

"Professor Lupin!" shouted Ginny Weasley excitedly, entering the room. "You're back!"

After much confusion, and people declaring they'd thought Snape would be teaching for a while longer, Lupin had them calmed down and started the lesson. Lily wished she could have finished her question, but it could wait. Feeling a tug on her robe, Lily turned around and saw James gesturing her to the back of the room where unwanted gazes wouldn't be following them.

The lesson was enjoyable, until they had to pair up. Obviously, she and James were together in fear of someone figuring out their secret. But, much to her surprise, James was actually sticking to his promise and took the practice seriously. So, James could be solemn if he felt like it.

In the matter of fact, he was actually being… nice. She'd never really realized how cute his smile was… Wait! She couldn't be saying that! It was the time travel that was messing with her head. Of course.

Meanwhile, James blasted the pillow out of the air, craving to knock it into that Weasley girl. No! No pranks… he had to remember that…

James saw a tiny-framed, blond-haired boy come towards him. Well, at least it was some company. Lily didn't seem overly excited to be partnered up with him.

"Hey! Are you Lupin's son or something, because I haven't seen you before?"

"Umm… we're… just… umm…" stammered James.

"We're second cousins to Professor Lupin," interrupted Lily smoothly. If it ever leaked out that there were new students, soon the whole class would want to meet them. "We'll only be here for a few days or so."

"Well, I just wanted to tell you, welcome to Hogwarts. You look a lot like Harry Potter, too. I'm pretty sure you've heard that before, though."

"No, actually, I haven't. But thanks… I think… anyway…" replied James as Justin turned away.

"Do you know what the hell that kid was talking about?" James asked to Lily, after Justin was out of range. She seemed to be deep in thought, though, brows furrowed.

So this did have something to do with Harry! Lily knew it! Well, all she had were a few clues… Harry looked like James; Ron didn't want Harry to see them… but why not?

Suddenly, it hit her. Why hadn't it before? Could Harry be James's son? They look the same… Ron didn't want Harry to see her, most likely because James was with her… Everything fits! Suddenly she felt rather strange inside. This was all just too strange.

"What?" James asked, looking concerned. "What is it?"

Lily didn't answer. She couldn't tell James yet… she wanted to be sure her hunch was correct. She also wondered who the mother was, but she knew she'd never figure that out… unless she asked someone who already knew. Well. Lily was going to ask Lupin a few questions before James and she left this classroom.

Finally, class was over. As the students filed out, she came to Lupin's desk and sat down in the chair. This was the moment she'd been dreading, and as she looked into Lupin's eyes, she knew he'd been dreading it too. "Remus, who is Harry Potter?" Lily asked, looking him straight in the eye.

For a moment, she expected him to deny Harry Potter had anything to do with James, but instead he sighed after a moment's hesitation.

"I should have known you'd piece things together, Lily… all right. I'm not sure how to say this. I shouldn't even be saying this, I suppose… but… Harry Potter…"


	17. The Truth is Revealed

"Harry Potter… well, as you have already discovered, Lily, he's not just… irrelevant to you," Lupin began, feeling extremely amateurish in his approach to the subject.

James could see that Lupin was a bit uncomfortable; he always gave speeches like that when he tended to be nervous. But he was too curious to put Lupin out of his misery and say, "Forget this whole thing!"

Lupin felt that he had to do this. It was only right. But how would James handle it? Lily obviously hadn't figured out she was the mother. If she had known, she probably would have been so horrified she might have keeled over and died on the spot. But then again… if he told James… he could finally ask him what he'd wanted to ever since… ever since that day… He finally said quietly, "He's… Harry's… Oh, how do I say this… well… your son."

James's mouth dropped open so wide; Lily could have sworn it dropped to the floor.

Lily smiled, a bit excited that she had deduced this right. "I thought so. He looks exactly like you, James! I think I saw Alice's son, walking down the halls, also. They have the same face-"

James seemed to have shaken out of his reverie as he could only stare at Lupin, shock all over his face. "I have a son? Wow- a son…" A dreamy sort of look came over his face, reminiscent of the one when Harry was born. "I bet he's good at Quidditch… and he has to be a troublemaker… I'm sure he's popular, and all the girls just have to look at him…"

"He's not a miniature version of you, James," Lily commented, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure he's just perfectly normal."

"No, my son's special, Lily!" he protested wildly, looking half-crazed. "Wow- a dad… this is so weird… Oh my God, this is so weird! But what's he like?"

Lupin smiled, a bit surprised at James's enthusiasm at being a father. "He looks exactly like you, James. He even has the hair-" Should Lupin ask? It was burning inside of him, and this might be his last chance. _Do you trust me James? Did you believe I was the one who betrayed you that night? How? How could you think it was me? I loved you and Lily and Harry… I need to know…_

"I feel sorry for Harry," Lily said, smiling. "What an awful thing to have inherited." Inside, she wondered who the mother was, but didn't dare say a word. James might think she was worried about it, or something.

James's dreamy expression seemed permanent. "And Quidditch?"

"He's the best I've ever seen," replied Lupin, now donning the same expression as James. "He was the youngest Seeker in the century- actually recruited in his first year, from what I heard."

Jumping up, James shouted, "Did you hear that, Lily? My son's the youngest Seeker in the century! And he got into Quidditch in his first year- you know that's nearly impossible!"

Lily smiled, nodding. She was happy for James, but she had a feeling there was something going on here… something she didn't remember what she had heard about Harry Potter…

"Wow… I just can't believe I have a son… God… Well, what about Lily? She's still waiting to hear her future," James pointed out, nudging Lily's arm. "Does she have any kids walking around- a husband?"

Lupin had a feeling James wanted to ask about Harry's mother, but felt a little nervous, which was quite understandable. James was going to put it off until the last minute- or until curiosity overpowered his anxiety.

But then, Lupin discovered he didn't know how to say that Lily was married to James. Perhaps he shouldn't.

James stared at Lupin's face, which was looking rather strained. _He doesn't want to tell us something…something about who Lily's married to? Why would that matter? Unless… _James suddenly thought of something. That had to be it. The thought was completely revolting- but it had to be true…

"Oh, my God, Moony," he breathed, incredulity in his voice.

He knew.

"Lily's married to you! That's why you didn't want to say anything! Why didn't you tell me? I mean, I did like her… a lot… but you could tell me! It doesn't matter! So… how many kids do you have?" James said, blurting out everything he could say at once. Remus and Lily- oh, why hadn't he been able to see it? Yet at the same time, he felt rather empty inside. Why hadn't he been able to see? Wasn't it so obvious in everything they did? Remus would always talk to Lily in classes, and certainly she enjoyed his company. _So what about me, Lily?_

Looking around a bit nervously, Lily glanced from Lupin to James. Could it be true? Remus was a nice fellow, probably one of the nicest in their year. Yet she couldn't see her marrying the exhausted, fatherly man in front of her. She tried to picture their wedding day, and to be honest, the only face she could think of was James's.

Lupin, at first, appeared neutral in response to the news. Then, he started to laugh- rather loudly, James thought. But at the same time, he felt like laughing too, only with relief. Finally, after Lupin had buried his head in his arms on the desk and managed to calm himself down, he was able to speak.

"It wasn't that funny," James defended, which only almost sent Lupin into another laughing fit. Actually, James had never seen Lupin laugh this hard in a while.

"I'm sorry James… I've just… I thought you meant something else… Well, no. Lily and I are not married," Lupin finally said, still trying to control his twitching lips. What could James have been thinking?

"Well, then why were you so nervous?" asked James.

Lupin suddenly went quiet again, then finally sighed. He was going to have to tell them sometime. "Because… well… because… just… Harry… he's not just James's son," he managed to say, even sounding incredibly stupid in his own ears.

"Of course he's not just James's son," Lily said patiently, watching Lupin turn bright red. Maybe he was more like his younger self than she realized…

"He's sort of- well, Harry is your- both of your- both of you are his parents," finished Remus, instantly regretting he said it that bluntly.

Lily's eyes went wide, and James's mouth went open so wide, he could have stuffed Dudley Dursley in it. "Harry's… Harry's my… Harry's our WHAT???"

"Your son," he repeated miserably.

"James and I would never get married… I don't even like him!" she shouted, vainly trying to deny that she and James would get married or, most of all, have children together.

Lupin gave a small smile. "Strange, I know. But you two fell in love in your 7th year and got married not too long after… a year or two."

She felt oddly choked. This couldn't be real…James and her? It wouldn't work, but according to Harry, she supposed it did. Was she a good mother? Lily suddenly began wondering, thoughts flowing through her head a mile a minute. This is probably what James had been thinking not too long ago.

Then she remembered what she had heard about Harry's parents. They… no… James and… What Harry had said… it sounded like Harry's parents had committed suicide by the way he was talking. She would never do that. Would she?

That's why Lupin looked so sad whenever he saw them! He saw what a mess they would be later in life, in their younger selves. She had to prevent this.

"We're dead, aren't we, Remus?" she asked quietly, looking him straight in the eye. Lupin appeared startled, and then gazed at the wall silently. He looked so much older, right then, just the way the sunlight was falling on his already lined face and gray hairs.

"Yes. You… you are."

James jumped up so fast, the whole room went spinning. "What? Lily and I- dead? How? What happened to Harry? What happened to us?"

"You were both murdered," Lupin said, his voice breaking.

Lily suddenly realized what Harry had meant, and immediately, looking back, chided her on thinking suicide. A murder… How horrible. How did Harry grow up without them? She felt that sinking feeling in her stomach when she realized she was dead much sooner than she ever thought she would be.

"How? Who did it? Where'd Harry go to?" James demanded, nervous energy running up and down his body.

"I… I can't… I can't tell you," Lupin said, eyes downcast. James felt a surge of anger.

"WHY NOT? Why is everyone trying to hide things? Just tell me! No one will tell us anything! Well, I'm going to find out for myself. I'm going to find Harry." James turned around and started running towards the door, not caring about or anyone. Just Harry. He needed to see Harry.

Lupin was sweating. His heart was pounding like mad. He needed to know. He need to-

"James!"

Slowly, the boy turned around. "What do you want, Remus?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry… I just… Do you trust me?"

"What?" James's eyebrows flew up. He thought Lupin was going to chide him on leaving, but this… this was… Just then, he noticed tears glinting at the sides of Lupin's eyes.

The boy softened and walked over to Lupin, giving him a hug around his middle. "Moony," he said gently, "I've always trusted you. And I always will."

By the time the two of them released, Lupin's face had lost all sharpness and exhaustion, looking like the innocent, fresh youth he once was. The tears hadn't quite left his eyes. "Thank you, James," he said quietly. "I… I just…" He seemed unable to go on. "Find Harry. He needs you."

With that, James rushed out the room.

Lily was torn. She wanted to go with James, but she wanted to stay with the still, melancholy Lupin. Finally, she decided.

James ran down the halls, ignoring the startled looks of passersby and Nearly Headless Nick, who declared rather angrily, "Watch it!"

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he whirled around furiously. "Don't stop me!" he shot at Lily, who looked rather frightened. "I want to see Harry, and that's all I want to do. I don't care if I'm dead! I just want to know Harry!"

Lily stared right back, looking determined. "I know. And I feel the same way. I'm coming with you." James, a bit startled, looked back quizzically at Lily. She tossed her chin back defiantly, as if challenging him.

And he accepted. Together, they faced a strange new obstacle. Together, they faced Voldemort, the one who murdered them. Together, they faced the world.

Squaring his jaw, James took a step forward, Lily next to him. Together, they would prevail.


	18. The Marauders Back to the Future

Snape hated Potter. Yes, he hated him more than he ever did, since that outfit incident in Potions. Oh, yes, he hated him.

Making his way up a staircase, he paused a moment, just to think of an awful way to torture James. No, the rack was too good for James. And he continued.

Not paying attention to where he was going, he ran into a gaudily dressed figure, who immediately said, "I predicted this would happen!"

Inwardly, he groaned. Trelawny. He'd been avoiding her for the past day, since that odd feeling he had had last time they'd met. And he was feeling it again…

"So sorry," he said levelly, trying not to meet her in the eye. "I just… well… I… would you come down to the Defense room with me? I have to talk with you about something…" Why had he said that? He hadn't even wanted to! And yet…

"I predicted this too. And, of course, I accepted. But be careful of the first step down, Professor Snape! I foretold you would fall…"

But Snape didn't mind this nonsense telling. He was, in fact, eating it up. Gallantly leading her down the steps, he almost became a different person.

Professor Flitwick peered through the spindles of the staircase, small head barely brushing the railing. "It worked!" he crowed excitedly, calling down to the other teachers. "The love potion worked!"

Minerva McGonagall smiled, coming out from behind a door. "I thought it hadn't! He didn't appear to feel anything toward her when they met yesterday…"

Flitwick brushed this off with a wave of his hand. "Well, he loves her now. How wonderful this could be! Getting her out of our hair while Snape softens up… this was a truly ingenious plan!"

She nodded, patting her bun. "Now, how can we keep slipping it to him for the rest of his life?"

"You always worry about the obstacles Minerva- let's not bother ourselves with that now. Just enjoy the peace," he advised, making his way back to the classroom.

Reluctantly, Minerva agreed and went back to her classroom, feeling extremely freed of Trelawny. She must remember to keep close watch on the two lovebirds… She wanted a chance to tease Snape about his behavior towards Trelawny every living moment after the effects from the love potion wore away. She could hardly wait.

-

Remus flipped through the book, excitement welling in his chest. This was the answer. This could be it! Each yellowed page held so much potential… one of them would be the key to getting James and Lily back…

In his immersion of the book, Remus didn't see a shadow cross over the open book. A very large shadow.

"Hello, Remus!" greeted Slughorn, the buttons on his waistcoat straining uncomfortably against his belly. Remus wanted to groan, but instead gave a smile.

"Hello, Professor Slughorn," he said courteously, feeling the irrepressible urge to start reading the book. Professor Slughorn was their Potions teacher- an okay one, but he always seemed to ignore students that didn't have connections or weren't extraordinary at Potions. Remus qualified for both. Actually, he had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason why Slughorn knew his name was because he was a werewolf. The only reason Slughorn had found out in the first place was because he heard Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore talking, much to Remus's misfortune.

Now, whenever he was gone for the full moon, Slughorn would always comment, "It's… that time again, isn't it?" and shake his head sympathetically. Not only that, but Slughorn would always mention to the horror of Remus and the delight of the Marauders, Remus's condition in the midst of class, though admittedly rather cryptically.

"Such a pity," Slughorn began, shaking his head. "I can't believe that James and Lily have disappeared. Lily was extraordinary at Potions, mind you."

_She still is, _Remus thought, but kept his mouth closed. _It's not like she's dead._

"I'm sure it's taken a toll on all of you," he continued, dabbing at his eyes. "Look at poor Black! Sobbing his heart out, no doubt." He turned toward Sirius, who was sprawled on the table, snoring loudly.

"Yes," agreed Remus. "He's deeply and tragically upset at the moment. I think he needs some…"

"Time alone?" finished Slughorn. Glad that he took his meaning, Remus nodded gratefully. The Potions teacher sighed. "I see. I suppose I'll leave now… classes to teach. But- one more thing, Remus…"

Remus turned dutifully toward Slughorn, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

"I hope your little… problem isn't too unbearable this month, no?" And with that, Slughorn was gone.

-

Harry turned the corner, praying not to find Ron or Hermione. Thankfully, there was no one in sight. Harry sunk down on his feet and closed his eyes. Everything was going wrong. Voldemort was still after him, Ron and Hermione refused to tell him anything… sometimes he just wished his parents were there.

Harry felt a jolt of shock. He hadn't admitted it, but that's what he'd been feeling all along. He had just wanted his parents. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hardly qualified as being guardians, much less parents.

So maybe he hadn't been feeling anger at them. Maybe it had just anger at having to live with the Dursleys', at having to live with the burden of being Harry Potter.

And Harry realized that he had to. He had to be Harry Potter. He had to bear the save the Wizarding World because no one else could.

A few minutes before, Harry was a boy. Now, as he stood up and started walking, he was a man.

-

James and Lily walked carefully, side by side. Everyone stared at them, brows furrowed, wondering who these people were. The 5th year Gryffindors were kind enough to point out that they were Lupin's second cousins, but an aura of mystery still surrounded them. Where did they come from? Why were they there with Lupin anyway? And why, pray tell, were they walking around the castle aimlessly?

But, we must correct the confused above. They weren't walking aimlessly. No, they had a mission. And that mission was to find their son.

Harry Potter.

They held hands, searching. In that moment, they were closer together than ever. Lily would have never thought she would be with James, combing the castle twenty years in the future for James's and her son. But weirder things have happened.

_Like what? _her subconscious asked her. Lily ignored this as she and James plowed on, going past the Charms classroom and rounding a corner.

BAM. Next thing Lily knew, she was sprawled out on the floor, rubbing her head. She and James had obviously run into someone. Great. James was already up and offering a hand to her. Accepting, she stood up, and came face to face with James.

Hold on. Wasn't James by her side? She had to do a double take. Sure enough, James was at her side, and James was in front of her also.

Suddenly, it hit her. Surely… this couldn't be… She studied the James in front of her more carefully. His nose was shorter, cheekbones less pronounced. His eyes weren't hazel, like James's. In fact, they were…

Green.

Green like hers.

She took a step back in shock, while James's mouth seemed to be hanging open. Harry's eyes were wide as he stared back at them.

Silence swallowed the hallway as the family just stared. The first sounds weren't even from themselves; they were actually from Hermione, running up to Harry. "Harry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" she began, wringing her hands, looking up at him until her gaze drifted toward the time-travelers.

"Oh… no…" she breathed, looking hurriedly from Harry, to James, to Lily. "Oh, no, no, no! This wasn't supposed to- Dumbledore will- Lupin will… What will everyone..?"

Luckily, before Hermione had a breakdown, Lupin appeared from behind Harry and Hermione, Ron in tow. He looked them all over as their eyes met his questioningly.

_Is it really our son? _begged James's and Lily's, while Harry's asked, _i This can't be my parents… can they? _Lupin didn't want to answer. But he had to.

"James… Lily… Harry…" he started. "Well… Harry… meet your parents."

Harry looked up at Remus, as if for clarification. He nodded.

"So that's… that's why… That's why Hermione and Ron were avoiding me?" Harry asked, looking across his two friend's faces. They both nodded.

"And that means you're… You're my… um…" Harry started, but realized he was unable to finish as he looked at James and Lily.

James looked just as uncomfortable as Harry, while Lily had a soft expression in her green eyes. No one spoke. Thoughts and emotions seemed to flow openly, no need for words to express them. Lupin viewed the scene, a small smile playing on his lips and eyes moistening slightly while Hermione had begun to sniffle a bit. She leaned her head against Ron's as he stroked her hair subconsciously, grinning widely at the scene.

Finally, James had the nerve to speak up. Tearing his eyes off Harry, and managing to look at everyone surrounding them, he gave a sort of wobbly smile. "This is the most bloody weird thing that's ever happened to me," he mumbled, and everyone cheered.

-

Trembling, Remus eased his finger down the paper.

_Post _

_Postab_

_Posthac _

_Posthac Ab_

Unable to suppress a cry of glee, Remus jumped out of his seat and began to shake Sirius furiously. "I found it!" he cried, ignoring Sirius's groans of protest. "I found the spell!" He heard a clock ring 4:00… had they really been looking that long? But it was no matter. They'd found the spell.

At those words, Sirius seemed to awaken completely as he darted out of his chair and skimmed the page. "Posthac Ab… was that the spell?" he asked, turning to Remus. The werewolf nodded as Sirius let out a loud whoop.

"Well, let's perform it then!" he cried, tearing his wand out of his pocket.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Remus warned him, but it was too late. In a flash of blue light, the Marauders were gone.


	19. This is the End

"Where are we?" asked Peter, trembling as he stood up. The sunlight filtered in from dirt streaked windows, bouncing off the flooded floor. Remus could have answered Peter's question, since it was quite obvious where they were- Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"It didn't do a bloody thing!" Sirius cried, leaning against one of the sinks. "We're just in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Is that where James and Lily were? Hiding in a stall?"

Remus sighed and looked around. "Well, it was the spell James and Lily used."

"I know that-" began Sirius, but was interrupted by a large wailing noise as Myrtle flew out of one of the stalls. "Oh great," he moaned.

Myrtle turned toward the threesome, face puckered into a disgusted scowl. "Oh, new students, eh? Coming to torture Moaning Myrtle, I guess. What are you going to do this time? Try and throw stones at me? Because I assure you, it won't work… because I'm… dead!" At this she started to wail again, and threw herself into a stall.

Remus furrowed his brow lightly. "Myrtle, we're not new students."

"Well, you have to be. I've never seen you around," she sniffed, peeking over the bathroom door.

Sirius gave an inquiring look to Peter, who shrugged in response. They knew Moaning Myrtle knew them. Why was she denying it?

"You don't remember us, Myrtle?" Peter asked, finally bringing up the courage to speak. The ghost floated over to him and began to peer closely into his face.

"Well," she began, "now that you mention it, you all do look a bit familiar…"

Rolling his eyes, Sirius stepped forward. "Of course we do! This is Peter Pettigrew- remember him? And over there is Remus Lupin, you know, the only one who ever calls you Myrtle instead of Moaning Myrtle, or Moping Myrtle, or Miserable Myrtle, or Mega-Whiner Myrtle, or…"

"She gets the point," Remus interrupted, giving a pointed look at Sirius. But Moaning Myrtle apparently didn't hear this as she swooped closer at the two men Sirius named.

"Peter Pettigrew…?" she said wonderingly, getting unusually close to Peter.

"Holy crap, Pete, she fancies you!" Sirius howled, clutching his sides as he nudged the scared Pettigrew. "I thought you had it bad that you hadn't hooked up with anyone yet… this is worse!"

Myrtle scowled at Sirius, glaring through her thick glasses. "That's not why I'm looking at him. It's just because…"

"Listen," Remus said, turning to the ghost, "Myrtle. Have you seen James and Lily around? You see, what happened was yesterday; they cast a spell and disappeared. Now we've gone to find them. Do you know where they are?"

Myrtle giggled. "Oh, I see," she said, smiling. Of course! It had been the talk of the day, where that Potter and Evans had gone. Then, the next day, the rest of his gang disappeared too. And now she knew the answer- they'd time traveled right into the future. "You know," she whispered, getting close to Remus, "I'd forgotten how adorable you used to look."

Now, Sirius began to laugh even louder at that while Remus shot him a dirty look. "We'll find James and Lily on our own," he said firmly, practically dragging the howling Sirius out the door.

-

James, Lily, and Harry walked around the corridors, trying to ignore the growing silence between them. The halls were deserted (who really cares if you skip classes when your dead parents come back to life,) but it was a bit odd walking around in broad daylight in empty halls.

"So, Harry, I heard you're a really good Quidditch player," Lily said softly, as Harry nodded. James beamed.

"Yeah… I mean, I guess I am," Harry replied, blushing.

"Of course you are! You're my son! You're Sirius's something or other! Except that doesn't really work, since he doesn't play Quidditch…" James trailed off, pondering.

Rolling her eyes, Lily whispered to Harry, "Please, ignore him. Sometimes he makes no sense."

Nodding, Harry had to give a smile at James, whose brow was still furrowed in thought. "So… how did you guys get here?"

James shrugged as he repeated the whole rather anti-climatic story.

Harry accepted this as they walked around, each one silent. He wanted to say something, desperately. But would they think it was ridiculous?

"Um… you know…" he started, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"Yes?" Lily turned her green eyes on Harry- unnerving, exactly like his eyes- and looked at him intently.

"I've sort of… missed you. A lot, over the years…" Harry felt more and more stupid as he went on. "It's just like, a miracle that you're here. And I'm really glad."

James appeared a bit startled at all the emotion Harry was outpouring, but Lily understood. "It must have been hard, growing up without us. And I wish I could have been there," she said quietly, while James looked on with tears in his eyes.

"Why does everyone have to be emotional?" he asked, wiping at his eyes furiously.

Harry once again grinned, when he saw something- or someone- he wished he hadn't. "Oh, no," he breathed, looking at the blonde haired head approaching them. "Great."

"Who is it?" Lily asked, trying to figure out who it might be.

"Draco Malfoy," clarified Harry, ushering his two parents into the door to the bathrooms. "I guess you could say my arch-enemy."

James grinned wildly. "Cool- got to love arch-enemies."

Snorting, Lily pulled James into the boys' room, and was about to enter the girls' room herself, when James stopped in his tracks. "You mean, LUCIUS Malfoy's son?" he asked, turning to Harry. His son nodded, and then jerked his head toward the bathroom.

"No- I have a plan," James said, an evil look spreading across his face. Shaking her head, Lily tried to reject the idea, whatever it might be, but it was too late. Harry had switched places with James already and hid the bathroom. Whatever James was going to do was going to be done, if that made any sense.

"Potter," Malfoy said smoothly, greeting James as he leaned casually against the wall, looking at the sole of his shoe.

"Oh, hey, Malfoy," James replied, waving his hand in greeting. "What are you out here for? I had to throw up."

Harry, peering out of the crack in the bathroom door, could have died at the face Malfoy was making. A mixture between disgust, shock and something else that looked quite funny, Harry couldn't tell.

"Anyway, you're going down at the Quidditch match tomorrow," Malfoy smirked, recovering from his shock. James raised his eyebrows, and then went back to examining his shoe.

"Cool," he said.

Malfoy began to get a bit riled up, as he leaned forward heatedly and spat, "You're a stupid, egoistic pet, Potter, riding along on your little broomstick, saving the day. Oh, Potter! Come and save me!" Malfoy mimicked a little girl screaming as he dramatically put a hand on his forehead.

James scowled and said, with a thick, corny French accent, "You don't frighten me, English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottom, son of a silly person! I blow my nose at you, so-called Malfoy-boy, you and your silly hair… gel!"

Malfoy looked at James with the most quizzical expression on his face. "You know what, Potter," he started, but then his voice failed. Finally, he found something to say. "Oh yeah? Why are you calling me an English pig-dog? You're English too. And what the heck do you mean by- pig-dog? That doesn't even make sense."

Putting on a "look-at-that-idiot-I'm-much-smarter-than-he-is" look, James laughed out loud. "I'm not English, I'm French! Why do you think I have this outrrrrageous accent, you silly… um…?" For a moment, James fell out of character, but soon recovered and continued, "You silly Sllll-why-there-in!"

Malfoy's face screwed up in complete disbelief at what James was saying. "I think you've finally snapped, Potter."

James couldn't have been happier at the way things were going. "I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed food trough wiper! You're mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"My mother is NOT a hamster!" Malfoy said, still a little scared of James. "And how would you even know if my father smells like elderberries?"

Noticing the smirk on James's face, Malfoy hastily covered up, "Not that he does… only sometimes… No! He doesn't! Now… you're… just… making… me… really…"

"Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time-ah!" James flourished, and with a final dramatic pause, he stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry while putting his thumbs in his ears and waggling his fingers.

"You're really scaring me, Potter," Malfoy whispered, and started to back away, faster and faster, until he had completely fled from sight.

While inwardly congratulating himself on a job well done, James saw that Harry and Lily had emerged from their hiding spots, one looking very pissed off and the other one grinning like mad.

"That was brilliant!" Harry crowed, eyes bright. "How did you do that?"

"He took it from a very messed-up movie, that's how," Lily responded, arms crossed. Apparently, she hadn't liked the show.

"Hey, it's not messed up!" James protested, but fell silent under Lily's piercing gaze. "All right. So it is sort of messed-up. But I saw it at when we were at Remus's one day. It was pretty cool." He ignored Lily's snort.

"What movie is it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Those movie things are kind of weird, you know? Just like a photograph, only with sound, and it tells a story. Honestly. What kind of things will the Muggles come up with next?" James again became immersed in thought, before realizing that he had forgotten to finish his tale. "Oh yeah. Anyway, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I all saw the movie together - and when I saw the opening credits-" James put a hand over his heart. "I was in love."

Lily once again snorted, this time so hard that she had to cover her mouth, and then began guiding them away from the topic, as well as the place. "Now, tell us, Harry, who was that Malfoy boy?"

"Well, he sort of hated me right off the bat, I guess," Harry started, and the threesome walked toward the Great Hall. "I never liked him, anyway. But he's the one who started the whole, "arch-enemy" thing…"

"Like Snape," James added.

"Sort of," Harry said hesitantly. "Anyway, his mother is Narcissa Black…"

"No way!"

"I know I couldn't believe it either. So, we met in the robe shop, where he started to ask about…"

-

Remus and Sirius looked at each other. "What?" Peter asked, coming between them. "What did they say?"

The Marauders had hidden themselves in a small niche on the corridor Malfoy had walked through to approach the one where James and Lily were. It had been a close call.

"If I heard correctly," Remus said, brow furrowed, "James made it clear that we're in the future."

"What?" Sirius flew forward so abruptly, he hit his head on the wall. "I never heard a bloody thing about the future! James was just talking from the movie to Lucius Malfoy, not saying, 'Oh, hi, look, I'm in the bloody future!'"

Remus shook his head. "No, no. If you'd been listening, then you would have heard James talking to another person… Harry, they called him… And there certainly is no Harry in our school. I think they mentioned Lucius Malfoy's son too."

"So? Maybe James is talking crazy," Sirius shrugged, calming down. "I mean, all I heard was that we all loved Monty Python."

"I'm glad you listened to so much of the conversation. So let's figure out how to get James and Lily back," said Remus patiently.

"I bet I'm a world famous singer now," Sirius said dreamily.

"What?" Remus said incredulously, not sure if this was a joke or not.

"A singer! You know I'm great at it…"

"And hippogriffs can fly," laughed Peter.

"Actually… Peter... they can," Remus reminded him gently.

"Peter, you're just jealous that I'm a singer and you're… like…a Ministry of Magic sanitation worker, or something," Sirius scoffed, turning back to his daydream.

"AM NOT!" cried Peter loudly.

"Will everyone stop?" Remus shouted, silencing Sirius, who had decided to test his singing ability and was wailing at the top of his lungs. If the two of them continued like this, there is no way they'd be able to be hidden for long.

"Okay, right now, we have to decide something to do," said Remus gently, trying to exert a calming influence on the others. "We're in the future, and we need to get James and Lily here with us, without anyone else seeing us."

The two wizards looked between them, deciding whether or not to agree with Remus. Finally, Peter nodded.

"Good," Remus said, businesslike. "We can't reveal ourselves, we could alter time. So, for now, we wait for James and Lily."

It didn't even seem like the future. Everything looked the same, but they could screw everything up if they showed their faces… He already decided he was going to tread very, very cautiously.

"So we just wait," Sirius said slowly.

"Yes. I think that it might be safe to go out at night, just to see where James and Lily are. But it would be much safer staying in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We'll go there at sunset."

Looking bored, Sirius leaned against the wall. Suddenly, his face lit up. Grinning manically, he whispered, "Hey. Do you think our legacy has lived on?"

"It's been twenty years from when we were here, Padfoot. I really don't think anyone knows who we are, besides maybe our kids, if we have any," Remus sighed, sitting down.

"Damn." Suddenly, Sirius's eyes lit up with inspiration. "I have an idea. I swear to you, Moony, we will not be forgotten. Not while I'm here. Hogwarts… meet the Marauders!" And with an evil laugh, Sirius had slipped out of his hiding spot.

Remus really didn't want to know what those words meant.

THE END

Author's Note: Look for the sequel, "Hogwarts, Meet the Marauders!" in a week or so!


End file.
